20 REPORTS. 



this I saw one on September 1st, and the last (at Havilland, St. Martin's) 

 on the 15th. This latter date is quite late for still seeing Swifts. 



Corncrake. — The Corncrake (or Land Rail) was heard in Guernsey this 

 year between April 30th and August 11th. In twenty-three years this is 

 my earliest date for noting- the bird's arrival. The bird was calling in 

 the large field opposite Moiiey Chapel, where it was also heard by Mr. T. 

 A. Luscombe on May 2nd, and again by myself on the 4th and 5th. On 

 June 3rd I heard the call at Les Bemonts, and Mr. George F. Alles did 

 so at Les Eperons on the 18th. Finally on August 11th I heard the well- 

 known cry from the lowlands at Ccbo. I have thus particularised what 

 I know of the Corncrake's sojourn here this summer because of the con- 

 tinued concern being shown in England at the disappearance of this 

 migrant from certain counties. In this island, too, the bird, once plen- 

 tiful every summer, has now become quite a scarce visitor. 



Rough-legged Buzzard.— The rare event, the capture of a Rough-legged 

 Buzzard, has to be mentioned. This appears to be the fourth only 

 recorded occurrence of this uncommon visitant in the islands. Cecil 

 Smith in " The Birds of Guernsey" gives two instances : one in Guern- 

 sey about Christmas, 1870, the other in Alderney some seven years later. 

 In 1895 a third specimen was caught in a gin at Herm (Ornithological 

 Report, 1905) and the present year has given us the fourth specimen. 

 This latter, in a very hungry condition apparently, was captured alive on 

 August 31st while in the act of attacking ducks in Mr. Balshaw's poultry 

 yard at Le Hurel, St. Martin's. It died during the following night and 

 was secured for the Guille-Alles Museum, where it may be seen. 



Bee Eater. Merops apiaster LinnaBus. — The most interesting event of the 

 year was the occurrence at Alderney in May of a couple of Bee Eaters, a 

 remarkably handsome but rare visitant to the British Isles. Mr. R. P. 

 Spencer, to whom I am indebted for the information, told me that one 

 of the birds was shot by Major L. A. Langlois, who chanced to see them 

 in his garden at St. Anne's. The other specimen escaped. The bird was 

 sent to Southampton to be stuffed and it is now in Major Langlois' 

 possession at Alderney, where Mr. Spencer has seen it. In Thorburn's 

 beautiful work " British Birds " (of which by the way Mr. Spencer owns 

 a copy) the author says of the Bee Eater : ' ' Some forty examples of this 

 rare visitant to the British Islands have been obtained, one of these 

 having occurred as far north as the Shetlands. It is plentiful in the 

 south European countries, and is found eastwards as far as western 

 Siberia, Afghanistan and Kashmir." 



Basil T. Rowswell, 

 Hon. Sec. Ornithological Section. 



