168 REPORTS. 



The visitation, however, was as short-lived as it was unexpected and 

 could not have seriously inconvenienced these early visitors, who to the 

 bird-lover are never other than welcome songsters. The chiff-chaff 

 always sees the summer out with us and leaves for warmer climes in the 

 early days of autumn. This year I heard the note up to October 13th. 



Wheatear. — My date for first seeing wheatears this year (May 3rd) is so 

 very late as to have no value as indicating the birds' time of arrival, 

 which is about the end of March or beginning of April. At the end of 

 August and all through the first half of September I saw some at widely 

 separated spots, generally near the coast, and the last on the Petit Port 

 cliffs on October oth. 



Wpyneek. — The earliest date in my possession for the coming of the wry- 

 neck this spring is April 5th, when, according to the Rev. R. H. Tourtel, 

 the bird was heard at St. Peter's -in- the -Wood. It was heard at Les 

 Galliennes, Torteval, on the 12th, and by himself on the 15th. At St. 

 Martin's the well-known high-pitched note of this migrant was heard in 

 the neighbourhood of the church on the 6th and around Les Blanches on 

 the 11th and 13th. On the latter day it was also reported by Mrs. 

 Kinnersly, of Calais House, and others. After May the familiar call was 

 less frequently heard — much less so as my notes show, and it would seem 

 as if the bird gave up singing earlier than usual, for my last date for St. 

 Martin's is July 8th and for Torteval, as observed by Mr. Tourtel, the 

 11th. In some years the wryneck has been heard singing for as much 

 as a week or ten days later. 



Cuckoo.— Of all the migrants not one, I suppose, is so intently listened for 

 as the cuckoo. Its monotonous and oft-repeated call is known to every- 

 body and its easy imitation is such as to make caution necessary in the 

 matter of accepting all observations offered. As nearly true to time as 

 could be (April 17th) the cuckoo was arriving in its summer quarters. 

 It was heard at Moulin Huet on that day b} r myself in the morning and 

 by Mr. G. Le Marchant in the evening. The next day (Good Friday) 

 Mrs. Lenfestey, of Le Bordage, St. Peter's, reported its appearance there, 

 and Major Carey Curtis told me it had been " heard all over St. Saviour's " 

 that day. On the 19th Mr. Thomas Robin, of Le Yarclin, St. Martin's, 

 noted the call, and the bird was also heard in Torteval parish by Miss R. 

 Langlois, and two days later by the Rev. R. H. Tourtel in the same 

 district. For SARK, Mr. Kaye, one of the guardians of the Lighthouse, 

 gave me April 23rd as the date of arrival. In July, at Sark, the cuckoo 

 set up a record for lateness of singing. In Guernsey the bird was last 

 heard by myself on June 20th, but Mrs. S. M. Henry, at Mount Row, 

 and Miss Henry, of Le Mont Durand, heard the call frequently in the 

 latter days of June and, for the last time, on July 1st, while Mr. Harold 

 Ross heard it at Collings Road as late as the 9th and 10th. All this time 

 the bird was being heard daily at Sark by Mrs. Henry, of Vallee du 

 Creux, and some Guernsey visitors, and it continued so to be heard until 

 the 16th of July.* At Guernsey the latest recorded date for hearing the 

 cuckoo is July 13th, on which day in 1907 the Rev. R. H. Tourtel re- 

 ported hearing it at St. Martin's. As is well known, the cuckoo does 

 not leave our shores when he gives up singing. On the 18th of August 

 this year my friend, Mr. Edward Rammell, saw one while walking 

 through the Mill Lanes at St. Martin's ; on the 23rd of the same month 

 I saw three near Le Mont Saint, at St. Saviour's, while so late as 

 September 5th and 6th Miss E. Henry saw one at quite close quarters, at 

 Sark. 



Swallow. — Last year as early as April 1st Miss K. Tardif saw swallows flying 

 about at Herm ; this year Mr. S. M. Henry saw two at Sark on April 4th. 

 As far as my own notes go these are the earliest dates for seeing swallows 

 in any of the islands of the Bailiwick. At Guernsey I did not chance to 



* In 1902 I heard a Cuckoo at Sark on July 14th, 



