ARE GUERNSEY BIRDS BRITISH ? 



311 



If instances be asked for of the Channel Islands 

 " natural " connection with the French mainland and with 

 southern rather than northern waters, I may cite the occur- 

 rence here of the Ormer and of Scyllarus Arctus, neither 

 of which species I believe si found on the English side 

 of the Channel. And in botany we have the Dwarf Adders 

 Tongue fern, the little Quillwort ( Isoetes Hystrix) and the 

 Harems-Tail Grass, all denizens of southern latitudes. And 

 there is the rare Tenby Snail which properly belongs to 

 the Canary Islands, but which, to quote from Mr. Marquand, 

 "lives in thousands on the green sward at Vazon Bay. As 

 a British shell it is confined to a single spot in England, 

 one in Wales and one in Ireland, so that it belongs to the 

 aristocracy of our molluscan fauna." In Ornithology, how- 

 ever, I am not aware that any birds visit these islands which 

 are not known in Great Britain, though perhaps some are 

 more common with us than in England. 



But the Channel Islands are British — the oldest bits 

 of the British Crown — and because of that fact, as I think, 

 British Naturalists might with reason include the productions 

 of the little Norman Archipelago in works on British Natural 

 History, being careful, however, to state the fact on the 

 title page of the work in some such form as that suggested 

 by Mr. Pickard-Cambridge, viz., " Birds (or what not) of 

 Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands." 



That some scientific writers and compilers take it for 

 granted that the Channel Islands should be included in 

 works dealing essentially with Great Britain and Ireland, 

 and that too without any mention of the fact on the title- 

 page, I may call attention to " British Rainfall,*' an annual 

 publication which always gives the rainfall of these islands 

 in its pages. Its title page is worded : " On the Distribution 

 of Rain in Space and Time over the British Isles during 

 the Year ... as recorded by nearly 5,000 Observers 

 in Great Britain and Ireland, and discussed with articles 

 upon various branches of Rainfall work, by Hugh Robert 

 Mill." 



And again the Channel Islands are always included in 

 the summary of the previous day's Aveather over the British 

 Islands published in the Daily Weather Report of the 

 Meteorological Office, London. For example, the Notes on 

 Tuesday, September 5th, last ran : " During yesterday 

 temperature was very irregular over the British Isles. 

 At Harrogate it did not exceed 57 deg., while Bath 

 reached 79 deg., and Jersey 88 deg." And on Thursday, 



