421 
1921.] Birds of Alderney, 
there would appear to be no reason why it should not be met 
with in winter. I have no record of it in the spring. 
Corvus monedula. The Jackdaw. 
This bird breeds here and is a resident, although not 
common outside the breeding-season, and frequently almost 
entirely absent. Those which breed here arrive, doubtless 
from the adjacent French coast, in the early spring, when for 
some days a flock of perhaps twenty or thirty birds may be 
seen performing evolutions in the air, at intervals returning 
to ground, and evidently reconnoitring the cliffs for a suit¬ 
able nesting-place. After the breeding-season they disappear 
except for a few isolated individuals, the flock appearing 
again at uncertain intervals during summer and winter, to 
depart again after a few days’ visit. 
Pica pica. The Magpie. 
I have not observed this bird myself on the island, and 
it must be considered as a rare visitor only, the absence 
of high trees and tall undergrowth no doubt accounting 
for this. 
L. saw three of them together in about the year 1900, but 
is uncertain of the date. He also saw three in September 
1919, and tells me that during the hard winter of 1870 they 
were very numerous, and that many were caught and kept 
as pets by the islanders. 
The bird is fairly common in Guernsey. 
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax. The Chough. 
Mr. Cecil Smith writes : “In Sark the Choughs have by 
no means so easy a time, as the Jackdaws outnumber them 
about the cliffs, and will probably eventually drive them out 
of the island; indeed, I am afraid they have done this in 
Alderney, as I did not see any when there in the summer of 
1876, nor in this last summer (1878). I, however, saw some 
there in previous visits, but now for some reason, probably 
the increase of Jackdaws, the Choughs appear to be nearly, 
if not quite, to have deserted the island.” This is, and 
probably will remain, the last record of the Chough in 
