24 REPORTS. 



Swallows and Martins. The spring being cold the Hirundines were latt; 

 in arriving-. ISwallows were; first seen by JNlr. Rowswell on April 26, and 

 by me the following day. House Martins appeartid on April '4, but for 

 some weeks their numbers were few By closely watching the autumiud 

 movements of these birds 1 found that the main body, that is to say, the 

 great majority of the birds, took their departure during the last days 

 of September, but a good sprinkling remained behind, probal)ly the 

 younger birds. Nearly every day up to October 2() I saw a few Swallows 

 and House INiartins in various parts of the island, the wind being easterly 

 and unusually cold throughout the month. On the 27th the wind veered 

 to the south-west, and these belated birds departed (with the exception 

 of just a few) either on that day or the following night. On October 80 

 I observed seven or eight Swallows flying high and straight in a south- 

 easterly direction across the Fort Road ; and I think these were passing 

 over the island on their way to the Continent from the west of England. 

 The last I saw were on November 2, three Martins and two Swallows. 

 Mr. Rowsweli saw three Swallows, flying high, on November 4, Mr. 

 Derrick saw both Swallows and Martins on November 7, near the Her- 

 mitage, and on November 9 three Martins between the Hermitage and 

 the Foulon. 



COPnePake. Heard by Mr. Rowsweli on j\Iay 10 at Havilland. 



Peewit. On May 11 I saw one flying over the marshes near Ivy Castle. 

 This bird is seldom seen in our islands during the summer. 



Woodcock. The first Woodcock of the season was shot at St. Martin's on 

 October 7, and in Alderney the earliest was killed on October 18. 



Great Black-backed Gull. On May 27 I saw a nest of this large Gull 

 containing three eggs on one of the islets north of Herm. 



Razorbill. Several pairs had eggs on one of the islets north of Herm, in a 

 practically inaccessible nesting-place. This is an imrecorded station, as 

 Smith says these birds build on Ortach and in Alderney, ' ' but nowhere 

 else." 



Stormy Petrel. On the 27th of May an egg, with the bird sitting on it, was 

 found on one of the islets north of Herm. 



Pallas'S Sand Grouse {Si/rr/iaptes paradox ns). The following note, con- 

 tributed by the author of the Birds of Gneritseij, will be found in the 

 Zoologist for 1888, p. 266 : '" The first I heard of the arrival of Sand Grouse 

 was from Guernsey. In a letter from Sir Edgar MacCuUoch, the Bailiff, 

 dated May 24th, he says : " Whilst I was at dinner. Couch, the bird 

 stuffer, called to show me a specimen of Pallas' s Sand Grouse, which was 

 shot on the 21st of this month somewhere in the Vale parish. It was 

 brought to him by the wife of the man who shot it, and it appears that 

 there was another in its company ; but the man who shot it could not 

 look after its companion, as it was time for him to get ready to attend an 

 inspection of the militia regiment he belongs to. The bird is in excellent 

 condition, but a little disfigured about the head with shot. I cannot say 

 whether it was a male or female, but I daresay Couch will discover the 

 sex when he comes to skin it, which he was intending to do at once." I 

 have not seen this bird myself, but I have no doubt the identification is 

 correct. This, so far as I know, is the first occurrence of the Sand Grouse 

 in Guernsey. — Cecil Smith, Lydeard House, Bishop's Lydeard, Taunton." 

 To this note the Editor adds in brackets "A small flock appeared in 

 Jersey during the last week in May." A note to the same effect from the 

 pen of Sir Edgar MacCuUoch appeared in the Guernsey Htar of INIay 26, 

 1888. Nothing further was known about Pallas 's Sand Grouse until 

 quite recently, when a fine male specimen, well-mounted and in good 

 preservation, was purchased for the Guille-Alles Museum. It had been 

 in the possession of the late Mr. John L. Mansell up to the date of his 

 death a few months ago, and there is reason to believe that it is the 



