REPORTS. 439 



noting that during a fortnight's tour in Normandy at the end of May 

 and beginning of June, I never heard the Wryneck once. 



Cuckoo. During the greater part of March and the first three weeks of 

 April, the weather was very cold with north and north-easterly winds ; 

 but about the 23rd the wind veered to the south-west, bringing the 

 Cuckoo, whose welcome voice was heard on the 24th of April by many 

 persons in different parts of St. Martin's and also at the Vale. I did 

 not hear the song after the latter days of June, and Mr. Rowswell notes 

 his latest date as the 29th. At the Vale Mr. Hocart says it ceased to sing 

 after June 16th ; and at Torteval Mr. Tourtel last heard it on the 28th. 



King'tisher. My son saw one flying across the rocks in Eocquaine Bay 

 on November ITth, and Mr. E. Sharp reports having seen one at Castle 

 Cornet dimng the summer of last year. 



Swift. First seen by Mr. RowsAvell on the 6th of May, circling round the 

 Town Church, and by me on the 9th, when a considerable number were 

 flying about ]Moulin Huet. A party of four or five were observed on 

 Fermain cliffs almost daily from August 30 to September 8 by Mr. 

 Rowswell. 



Swallow. jNIr. Hocart says the earliest swallows appeared at the Vale on 

 the 17th of April, and on the same day Mr. Rowswell saw some at 

 Moulin Huet. The first I saw were a couple on April 27. A fisherman 

 told Mr. Spencer he saw three swallows on the wing off Herm on 

 April 10, Mr. Hocart supplies the following interesting note: "A 

 pair of swallows have nested for many years at Les Mielles, so that 

 I have been able to watch them. The last brood left the nest on 

 September 19th, but they continued to roost in the shed until October 1, 

 when all the swallows disappeared, apparently in a body, for no 

 stragglers were seen at the Vale afterwards. This is at least a week 

 earlier than usual." The bulk of our swallows must have departed 

 before the 12th of October, as Mr. Rowswell notes that on that day and 

 also on the following one he drove through different parts of the island, 

 and during both days he saw ouly one bird. On the 27th of October, 

 the wind having veered to the westward after a prolonged easterly spell, 

 I saw about a dozen swallows flying round the old mill at Les Camps ; 

 a single one on the 30th, and two on November 3, and Mr. Rowswell 

 saw the last on the 6th at St. IMartin's. No doubt all the swallows seen 

 after the middle of (October were passengers on their route from Ireland 

 or the west of England. 



House Martin. Remarkably few during the early part of the summer. 

 I saw the first on the 1 2th of May at Jerbourg ; two on the Moulin 

 Huet cliffs on June 19th, one the following day near my house, and one 

 at Saints' Bay On the 23rd. These were the only House Martins I saw 

 up to midsummer ; and about the end of June Mr. Rowswell told 

 me he had until then only seen a single bird, which he noted on May 9. 

 All through the summer until August I had scarcely observed a dozen, 

 though swallows were fairly numerous. Apparently this scarcity of 

 House Martins was not entirely local, for during a whole fortnight in 

 France I did not see a single one, although Swallows nnd Swifts were 

 plentiful. On the 12th of September a considerable number were flying 

 about ^Moulin Huet, probably early arrivals from the north, and in 

 October the numbers increased. During the first week of November 

 a small party frequented the old Camps mill, and another party haunted 

 the valley at the side of Colborne Road from the 7th to the 10th. The 

 last Martin I saw on the 15th of November, flying across my garden, and 

 Mr. Rowswell observed what was no doubt the same bird (the wind being 

 easterl}') on the 17th, the latest date of which we have any record. 



Quail. Mr. Spencer informed me that he put up a Quail in Herm on the 

 20th of April. I heard this bird frequently in the neighbourhood of 

 Bayeux, in Normandy, about the third week in IMay. 



