447 
i C)2 i. J Birds of Alderney. 
two occasions found nests containing four. The nests of this 
bird are very varied in construction, and well worth studying. 
Perhaps more often than not, no nest is constructed at all, 
but the eggs deposited amongst the stones of the beach. 
Again, the eggs are often laid in a hollow formed against 
the seaweed thrown up at high spring-tides. I once found 
two eggs jambed in a crevice between two large stones, 
their small ends vertically downwards—an extraordinary 
and one would imagine uncomfortable position, especially 
for the young birds, if they ever hatched out. Nests are 
often carefully lined with small limpet shells, some half an 
inch in diameter, with their small ends uppermost, and as 
these have usually been washed smooth and white by the 
action of the waves, the nests thus formed are very 
conspicuous. I once found one in an old fort. It was 
placed in a hollow against the racer of an old gun emplace¬ 
ment, and lined with granite-gravel taken from the old 
pathway in the fort. This gravel, which normally is rough 
and angular, was most carefully laid and fitted together, 
a flat surface of each pebble upwards, giving the appearance 
of an old Roman mosaic work. 
Arenaria interpres. The Turnstone. 
A common winter visitor, arriving in late August or 
September. A few remain throughout the year, but, I think, 
only non-breeding birds. Mr. Cecil Smith considered that 
they bred on the islands, but the evidence of this seemed to 
be uncertain even in his time, and I do not know that the 
nest and eggs have actually been found. 
Larus canus. The Common Gull. 
Mr. Cecil Smith says:—“The Common Gull, though by 
no means uncommon in the Channel Islands during the 
winter, never remains to breed.” 
Larus argentatus. The Herring-Gull. 
A common resident, but more plentiful during the 
breeding-season than at other times of the year. 
