100 REPORTS. 



morning and quite a number have been hawking around the Town 

 Church, screeching as they flew. Miss K. Tardif tells me she has not 

 seen a single swift yet." And wo that graceful flyer and very interesting 

 migrant had at length come back to its old haunts to the delight of not a 

 few of us who love to watch its aerial evolutions. August brings to an 

 end the stay with us of the swift. It is not an uncommon occurrence 

 in some years to see a few well into September, but they are the stragglers, 

 of which there are always a certain number — birds in no great hurry, 

 apparently, to take the journey southward. This year I saw some 

 frequently up to August 14th, then none from that date to the 26th when 

 I saw the last— a solitary flyer over the Petit But cliffs. 



REMINISCENCES, — I have two interesting reminiscences of the 

 sojourn of the swift with us this year. In the dusk towards 9 o'clock 

 in the evening of July 14th, swifts and bats were flying about together 

 over our garden at Les Blanches. The swifts were flying much below 

 their normal level — they seemed to have come down from their high estate 

 for the express purpose of fraternizing with the more lowly bat — and 

 their rapid, dart-like movements were in striking contrast to the 

 comparatively slow and awkward flight of the bats. No singing of birds 

 was to be heard — the world of birds, the swifts excepted, had apparently 

 gone to roost. It was a pretty and, as it seeme'd to me, unusual sight. 



My second reminiscence, or perhaps " note " would be more correct, 

 relates to a party-coloured swift. For some two hours on the afternoon 

 of July 18th I had a swift under observation, the whole of the breast 

 feathers of which were a pure white. All other parts were, as nearly as 

 I could make out, the colour natural to the bird. 



Comerake. — I was not fortunate to hear the corncrake (or landrail) once 

 this season, and the Rev. R. H. Tourtel has told me the same thing for 

 himself. It is satisfactory, however, to know that this interesting 

 migrant, whose erratic movements in England in recent years is puzzling 

 ornithologists not a little, did come to the island. As early in the season 

 as April 27th a corncrake that had been picked up dead was brought to 

 the Library by the finder, who was seeking for information about stuffing 

 the bird. Again, on May 15th (about), Mr. C. G. de La Mare heard the 

 well-known note in a field near Les Naftiaux Arsenal at St. Andrew's ; 

 on May 20th Mr. Thomas Robin heard it at Cobo, and, finally, it was 

 also heard by Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Henry at Le Bouet on the evening of 

 June 16th. 



Norfolk Plover. — Two years ago mention was made in the Ornithological 

 Report of the capture at Icart, St. Martin's, of a Norfolk plover or stone 

 curlew. It was the first recorded occurrence of the bird in Guernsey, and 

 now a second has to be chronicled. On December 21st, 1917, Mr. J. J. 

 Falla, of the King's Mills, Catel, shot a bird he was not able to identify. 

 He brought it to the Library, and it proved to be a Norfolk plover. In 

 addition to this name and that of stone curlew, the bird is also known 

 as the great plover. 



Basil T. Rowswell, 



Hon. Sec. Ornithological Section. 



Report of the Antiquarian Section, 1918. 



Owing to the continuance of the War, and the conse- 

 quent abandonment of excursions, the work of the Section 

 has been limited to a few unofficial visits to the Cromlech of 

 Dehus. A close examination of the second capstone has 

 been made resulting in discoveries of markings of even 



