1918.] 



REPORTS. 99 



Cuckoo. — True to time the song we all listen for most and love to hear — the 

 voice of the cuckoo— was heard in Smith's Nursery at La Couture on 

 April 18th by Mr. Harold lioss, the Junior Assistant at the Guille-Alles 

 Library, who again heard it at the same place on the 23rd. Two days 

 later (the 25th) the bird, as shown by the reports to hand, was announc- 

 ing its arrival far and wide ; it was heard at Torteval by the Rev. R. H. 

 Tourtel, at Les Eturs, Catel, by Mr. Thomas Robin, at Cobo by Mr. 

 A. Singleton, and at St. Martin's by my wife and myself. As far as 

 St. Martin's is concerned many in the parish must have heard the 

 familiar note on that day ; the following day (the 26th) may be given as 

 that of its general distribution over the island. Last year the cuckoo 

 was generally distributed by April 24th and in 1916 by about the 22nd. 

 In SARK, as noted by Mr. W. J. Kaye, one of the Lighthouse Keepers, 

 the bird was heard on the 27th, and Mr. C. Gr. de la Mare who was in 

 JERSEY heard the song in the St. Clement's district in that island on 

 the 25th. At the end of the season I did not hear the note at St. 

 Martin's after June 26th and Mr. Gr. F. Alles after the 27th. The bird 

 was however still calling in the neighbourhood of the Vauquiedor on 

 July 1st as noted by Mrs. Stephen Henry ; it was heard at Le Vallon on 

 July 4th (where its presence had not been observed for weeks previously) 

 and it was last heard by the Rev. R. H. Tourtel at Torteval on July 6th. 

 At SARK, as reported by Mrs. J. H. Henry, of Vallee du Creux, the 

 Cuckoo was still singing on July 3rd. 



Swallow. — The one swallow that does not make a summer was seen by 

 Miss K. Tardif flying about in Herm on Easter Monday, April 1st. In 

 sixteen years this is by five days the earliest recorded date in the 

 Society's Transactions for sighting members of the advance guard. On 

 April 12th Miss Tardif saw another solitary swallow, this time flying 

 over the town in this island. A very pronounced spell of cold north- 

 easterly winds and gloomy days followed, and whether or not this 

 delayed, the arrival of more birds I cannot say, but however this may be 

 and in spite of the fact that others- besides myself were on the look out, 

 no swallows were apparently again seen until May 1st. In the late 

 afternoon of that day I saw some two dozen sporting about over Market 

 Street and neighbourhood, and the following day I saw a good many at 

 the Forest and St. Peter's ; also between St. Martin's and the town. As 

 far as my own observations go May 1 st is decidedly late for noting the 

 first appearance of swallows, but ea/ly for seeing them in numbers as I did 

 on that and the next day. After the middle of September it became 

 clear that these summer visitors were leaving for other climes, and by the 

 end of the month the bulk of them had disappeared. Stragglers conti- 

 nued to be seen daily until nearly half way through October and then 

 uncertainly. Capt. Kinnersly saw one on the St. Martin's cliffs on the 

 28th, and the last I chanced to see was flying round the old Camps 

 Mill on the 3rd of November. In some years swallows have been 

 observed from a week to a fortnight later than this, the latest recorded 

 date being the 17th in 1914. 



House Martin and Sand Martin.— I saw no house martins this year 

 before May 2nd when several were on the wing near Morley Chapel, nor 

 did I observe any after October 1st, in the early morning of which day I 

 saw one at the Chouet, Vale. In May, for the first time since 1911, I 

 saw sand martins in Market Street on the 1st and along the Fort Road 

 on the 2nd. In each case there appeared to be one bird only. 



Swift. — Swifts were late in arriving this year. On May 1st, on the 9th, and 

 again on the 13th I saw a single bird (probably the same) flying near the 

 Town Church. Two days later (the 15th) three birds were circling the 

 Tower, and then under date of the 16th the following entry occurs in my 

 note-book : " Swifts are at last arriving in larger numbers. Some 

 half-dozen were flying round the Camps Chapel at St. Martin's this 



