UEPOKTS. 2S9 



Kingrfisher. One was seen by my wife and son in Monlin Huet Bay on 

 February 27. Thirty or forty years ago these beautifu] birds used to 

 breed in some numbers in Guernsey ; at the present time only single 

 birds are seen as a rule. 



Goatsucker. I saw a Goatsucker at Saints Bay on May 18, earlier than I 

 ever saw this bird in these islands ; probably it had only just arrived. 



Swift. Arrived late this year. I was out a great deal during the month of 

 May, but the first Swifts I saw were on the 20th. INIr. Rowswell how- 

 ever observed a couxDle at St. Martin's on May 5. They were last seen, 

 with one exception, on August 26, by Mr. Kowswell at St. Martin's, and 

 on the 27th by myself at the Forest, when I counted six None were 

 observed again until September 26, when I saw to my great surprise 

 a solitary Swift circling about leisurely between my house and St 

 Martin's School. 



Swallows and Martins. The earliest Swallows of the year were seen at 

 the Yale by Mr. Hocart, who noted them on Ai^ril 13, I saw three 

 at St. Peter's on April 20, apparently lately arrived, the wind being 

 south, and Mr. Rowswell saw a couple in George Road on the 28rd. 

 House Martins appeared about the same time ; Mr. Spencer saw one 

 at Lily vale, Catel, on April 15, Mr. Rowswell one at Moulin Huet 

 on the l<Sth, and myself one at Rocquaine on the 20th, but neither 

 Swallows nor Martins were at all jDlentiful until about the 7th of May. 

 This year I was able to note accurately the date of their departure or at 

 least the departure of one contingent. On the 21st of October I observed 

 that there were still a great many Swallows on the wing at St. Martin's, 

 and I must have seen quite a hundred about Saints Bay and by the olcl 

 windmill at Les Camps. At that time, and for a few days previously, 

 there was a strong wind blowing from the south and south-west, so 

 that of course the birds could not start on their journey, but during 

 the night the wind veered to the north-west, and with a full moon 

 and clear skj, all the swallows departed, for on the 22nd I did not 

 see a single one during the whole day. This I think fixes the date of 

 the general exodus, ancl only stragglers aj)peared afterwards. The last 

 I saw were on October 30, but Mr. Rowswell observed a couple of 

 House Martins at Jerbourg on November 10 and one swallow flying 

 about for twenty minutes over his garden at Les Blanches on Nov. 12. 

 He also notes an interesting observation he made on some House 

 Martins on November 5. He was watching a small party of half a 

 dozen of these birds circling about together for some time below 

 the cliffs at Petit Port, when suddenly, as if at a given signal, they 

 all flew out to sea, and disappeared, probably on their migration. 



Quail. On June 5 I listened for some time to the peculiar call of a Quail 

 in a field at St. Andrew's and I heard another near Petit Bot on July 2. 

 Mr. Spencer tells me that two were shot at Grandes Rocques this year, 

 and he also informs me that Quails bred in Herm last year, as a couple of 

 young birds were captured and kej)t in confinement all through the 

 winter, and they are still alive and doing well. 



Corncrake. It is very remarkable that no one seems to have heard a 

 Corncrake this year in Guernsey, and yet some of these birds must 

 have come over to this island, for on May 5 one was picked up in an 

 exhausted condition in a garden in the Strand, and kept alive for a day 

 or two. and another was captured at the Bailiff's Cross on September 6. 



Coot. During the severe weather at the end of January a Coot was captured 

 at the Charroterie, and kept alive for several days. 



Tufted Duck. The only specimen on record for these islands was noted 

 by Mr. Dalgliesh in the TransaclioiiH for 1903, p. 204. In the collection 

 belonging to the Guille-Alles Museum there is a male specimen of 

 the Tufted Duck, killed by the late ^Ir. H. Le Lacheur, of St. Andrew's, 

 as shown by a label attached to it in Mr. Whitehead's handwriting. 



Vj, D. Mau(^uaxi), Sec. Oniitli. Sect. 



