1916.] REPORTS. 279 



he]d within a hundred yards of our position, and the 

 swallows skimmed backwards and forwards apparently un- 

 concerned with the strange scene and intent on gathering 

 insects." 



And Mr. Clarke tells how the " strange scene" included 



" the sharp, incessant boom of the guns and the whistle of 

 bursting shrapnel from ' the guns the foe were sullenly 

 firing.' " 



Mr. Clarke's observations point to the birds being appa- 

 rently utterly indifferent to the reign of terror and uproar, 

 into the midst of which they had arrived and remained. And 

 he relates one instance of a tree, on the branches of which 

 swallows and martins were perching, being shattered by an 

 enemy shell. The birds scattered, " yet, after flying about 

 for a few minutes they settled down on another tree, preened 

 their plumage, and twittered as if nothing unusual had 

 happened." 



Our migrants — the swallows and other birds that have 

 spent the pleasant days of this summer in Guernsey and the 

 adjacent islands — have not been worried by gun-fire or earth- 

 quake-like convulsions of the ground. In peace and quiet 

 they have built their nests and reared their young ; undis- 

 turbed by abnormal sounds they have wheeled about in the 

 warm sunshine by day and roosted peacefully in trees and 

 shrubberies at night. Happy, glad, free from care, they came 

 from distant lands to the war-worn countries of Europe, 

 happy and glad they sojourned with us for a while, happy and 

 glad they left us again at the appointed time — left Europe a 

 still sadly war-worn conglomeration of nations. What will 

 the birds find at their next return a few months hence : this 

 mighty convulsion abated, and happier peoples ; or will the 

 " Great Killing " with all its unthinkable horrors still hold 

 Europe in its grip ? 



But I must pass on and give you a brief account of the 

 results of this year's observations of myself and others who 

 have made notes in connection with the migrants that have 

 visited us. To all those who have helped me and whose 

 names appear below I tender hearty thanks for their kindly 

 co-operation. 



Chiff-ehaff.— Our earliest date in thirteen years for first hearing the Chiff- 

 chaff is March 19 (1913). This year I heard and saw one in the Fermain 

 bay valley on the 20th. For several days after this I did not again hear 

 the bird, but by the end of the month the pleasant note was becoming 

 more frequently heard, and on the morning of April 10th the Moulin 

 Huet valley was vocal with the sound. I had never heard so many Chiff- 

 chaffs at the same time, and think a party of them must have arrived 



