272 



REPORTS. 



protect, he said : " I hope also, as in the English Act, 

 the name of the Chough may be added, for this interesting and 

 beautiful bird seems, as in our own parts, to be on the 

 decrease; it cannot perhaps b« said to be "utile aux 

 pecheurs," but that small objection would, as before observed, 

 apply to many of the birds mentioned." 



If space and time allowed I should like to make further 

 references to the interesting notes in this 1872 volume of the 

 Zoologist^ but I must now pass on and tell you about the 1911 

 observations on our birds of passage. And first, just one 

 word about the weather. The sudden burst of extraordinary 

 cold in the first week of April, with its accompaniment of 

 blighting frosts and severe blizzard-like snowstorms, is doubt- 

 less still fresh in your memories. The visitation occurred 

 just at the time of the arrival of some of the migrants, and 

 although most severe towards the end of the first week of 

 April (the mean temperature at Les Blanches on Thursday, 

 the 6th, Avas actually as Ioav as 30*2 degrees, with maximum 

 and minimum respectively of 32*6 and 28*2 degrees), the cold 

 sua]) prevailed from the 3rd to the 14th inclusive. The little 

 Chiff-cliaff and the Wryneck were with us at the time, 

 — both of these birds, in fact, were heard earlier than 

 usual — while the Cuckoo put in an appearance just after the 

 temperature had returned to a normal condition. But the 

 effect of the very unusual and very severe cold for the time of 

 year on bird life generally was most striking, and the 

 practically entire absence of all singing amongst our feathered 

 friends (which just before had been in full spring song) was 

 particularly noticeable, especially from the 5th to the 9th. 



My own records, which are mostly confined to St. 

 Martin's, have been supplemented as last year by notes from 

 Mr. J. S. Hocart, of Les Mielles, Vale, and from the Rev. R. 

 Tourtel, M.A., of Torteval, to whom, as also to Jurat G. E. 

 Kinnersly, Jurat G. H. Le Mottee, Miss Boley, Mr. G. F. 

 Alles, Mr. E. Durman and Mr. G. J. Tourtel I am indebted 

 for valued additions to my own rather restricted field of 

 observation. 



Chiff-ehaff. — On March 22ncl, a perfect spring day, calm and sunny, I saw 

 and heard a Chiff-chaff in the Vail on trees at St. Martin's, in the early 

 morning, and during the afternoon of the same day I heard another in 

 the Bon Air grounds overlooking Fermain Bay. This is the Society's 

 earliest recorded date for the arrival of the bird. It is one of the first of 

 the summer migrants to reach our shores and one of the last to leave, 

 while unlike the Wryneck and Cuckoo which give up singing in July the 

 pleasant note of the little Chiff-chaff continues to be heard right up to 

 the end of its sojourn with us. On September 25th last the bird, was still 

 en evidence everywhere, and my last date for noticing the cry was 

 October 5th along the St. Martin's road. 



