98 REPORTS. 



The Ornithological Section was started in 1903 and its first 

 secretary was Mr. G. Dalgliesh. In 1904 Mr. Marquand took 

 over the Section, Mr. Dalgliesh having left Guernsey, and 

 yearly to 1909 he prepared an annual report of his observa- 

 tions, supplemented by those of a few friends who supplied 

 him with copies of their own notes on the arrival and depar- 

 ture of our principal summer migrants. In addition to this 

 Mr. Marquand wrote a paper on " The Birds of Alderney," 

 which was read before the Society on November 18th, 1903, 

 and published in that year's Transactions. 



Since 1910 (the year of Mr. Marquand's departure) the 

 work of the Ornithological Section has been carried on by 

 myself with the valued help of several members of the Society 

 and others. This help I gratefully acknowledge once more, 

 and with these introductory remarks will now proceed with a 

 resume of the year's work. 



Chiff-chaff. — In the midst of '■' the sweet confusion of melody that birds in 

 spring-time make in a wood " I heard the musical pianissimo of a chiff- 

 chaff in the deep of the Fermain-bay lane on the morning of March 

 20th. Two days later several of these always early spring visitors were 

 singing in the same locality and gradually after this one began hearing 

 them further inland. Last year, owing probably to the severe weather, 

 I did not hear the note before April 9th. It seems to me that on the 

 whole the chiff-chaff has been less en evidence this season than usual and 

 was very little heard at the end of the summer — four times only in Sep- 

 tember and twice in October as noted by myself. October 23rd, the last 

 occasion on which the song fell on my ear (at St. Martin's), is however 

 by four days my latest date in eleven years' observations. 



Wheatear. — On Easter Monday, April 1st, in company with Mr. Gr. F. Alles, 

 I saw several wheatears along the coast between Perelle and Vazon. 

 These unobtrusive yearly visitors love the low-lying parts of the island 

 and the neighbourhood of the sea. It is only occasionally one comes 

 upon them inland, and while a stroll along the cliffs will start one here 

 and there, their home while with us is l'Ancresse Common and 

 thence to Pleinmont. The last I saw this season were flying about the 

 Common on October 6th. 



Wryneck. — As reported by the Kev. R. H. Tourtel, B.D., the Rector of 

 Torteval, the wryneck was heard by Miss Tourtel on April 5th, but he 

 added that, on reliable authority, the bird had been heard at St. Peter's 

 on the 3rd. This is a quite normal date of arrival and is a great contrast 

 to that of last year, viz., April 23rd. The remarkably late appearance 

 here of the wryneck in 1917 was probably owing to, as stated in that 

 year's Report, the unusually cold and inclement weather of that spring- 

 tide. At St. Martin's this spring the bird was heard and seen in the 

 Saints -bay valley on April 6th — three days after it had been noted at St. 

 Peter's— by Mr. T. T. Mauger, of Le Gazel, and in the early morning of 

 the 11th I was greeted by the exhilarating song at Moulin Huet, and 

 later in the day my wife heard it at Les Blanches. At the Catel Mr. 

 Thomas Robin has given me April 23rd as the date of its appearance in 

 Les Eturs district. Personally I heard the wrvneck but little during its 

 sojourn with us this year and not at all after May ; from enquiries made 

 I am of opinion that the bird has again visited us in smaller numbers 

 than usual. The date given me for last hearing the song at St. Martin's 

 is July 4th while, presumably for Torteval, the Rev. R. H. Tourtel 

 mentions July 8th. The Transactions record only one earlier date for 

 last hearing the wryneck, viz., July 6th in 1905— thirteen years ago. 



