Part 10

120. SNIPE. _Gallinago gallinaria_, Gmelin. French, "Bécassine ordinaire."--The Common Snipe is a regular and rather numerous autumnal visitant to all the Islands, remaining through the winter and departing again in the spring, some few remaining rather late into the summer. I am very sceptical myself about the Snipe breeding in the Channel Islands in the present day, although I was told one or two were seen about Mr. De Putron's pond late this summer, and were supposed to be breeding there; however, I could see nothing of them when there in June and July, although, as I have said before, Mr. De Putron kindly allowed me to search round his pond for either birds or eggs. Mr. MacCulloch, however, thinks they still breed in Guernsey, as he writes to me to say, "I believe that Snipes continue to breed here occasionally; I have heard of them, and put them up myself in summer." If they do, I should think the most likely places would be the wild gorse and heath-covered valleys leading down to the Gouffre and Petit Bo Bay, as there is plenty of water and soft feeding places in both; I have never seen one there, however, though I have several times walked both those valleys and the intervening land during the breeding-season, and I should think all these places were much too much overrun with picnic parties and excursionists to allow of Snipes breeding there now. Should the Snipe, however, still breed in the Island, it would be as well to give it a place in the Guernsey Bird Act, as it is much more worthy of protection during the breeding-season than many of the birds there mentioned. Sometimes in the autumn I have seen and shot Snipe in the most unlikely places when scrambling along between huge granite boulders lying on a surface of hard granite rock, where it would be perfectly impossible for a Snipe to pick up a living; indeed with his sensitive bill I do not believe a Snipe, if he found anything eatable, could pick it off the hard ground. Probably the Snipes I have found in these unlikely places were not there by choice, but because driven from their more favourite places by the continual gunning going on in almost every field inland.

The Snipe is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey: it is difficult to say why this should be, when the Solitary Snipe and the Jack Snipe are marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark, and all three are, at least, as common in Alderney as in the other two Islands. There is one specimen in the Museum.

121. JACK SNIPE. _Gallinago gallinula_, Linnaeus. French, "Bécassine Jourde."--The Jack Snipe is a regular autumnal visitant to all the Islands, but never so numerous as the Common Snipe. A few may always be seen, however, hung up in the market with the Common Snipes through the autumn and winter.

Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks it only as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen at present in the Museum.

122. KNOT. _Tringa canutus_, Brisson. French, "Becasseau canut," "Becasseau maubèche."--Common as the Knot is on the south and west coast of England during autumn and winter, it is by no means so common in the Channel Islands. I have never shot it there myself in any of my autumnal expeditions. Miss C.B. Carey records one, however, in the 'Zoologist' for 1871, as having been shot on September the 23rd of that year; and Mr. Harvie Brown mentions seeing a solitary Knot far out on the shore at Herm in January, 1869. These are the only occasions I am certain about, although it probably occurs sparingly every year, but I have never seen it even in the market, and were it at all common a few certainly would have occasionally found their way there.

Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the Museum.

123. CURLEW SANDPIPER. _Tringa subarquata_, Güldenstaedt. French, "Becasseau cocorli."--The Curlew Sandpiper, or Pigmy Curlew as it is sometimes called, can only be considered a rare occasional visitant to the Channel Islands. I have never seen or shot one there myself, but Mr. Couch records one in the 'Zoologist' for 1874 as having been shot near the Richmond Barracks on the 5th of October of that year. Colonel L'Estrange told me also that some were seen in a small bay near Grand Rocque in the autumn of 1877. It may, however, have occurred at other times and been passed over or looked upon as only a Purre, from which bird, however, it may immediately be distinguished by its longer legs and taller form when on the ground, and by the white rump.

It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no specimen in the Museum.

124. PURRE or DUNLIN. _Tringa alpina_, Linnaeus. French, "Becasseau brunette," "Becasseau variable."--The Purre is resident in all the Islands throughout the year in considerable numbers, which however are immensely increased in the autumn by migratory arrivals, most of which remain throughout the winter, departing in the spring for their breeding stations. Though resident throughout the year, and assuming full breeding plumage, I am very doubtful as to the Purre breeding in the Islands; I have never been able to find eggs, nor, as a rule, have I found the bird anywhere but on its ordinary winter feeding-ground, amongst the mud and seaweed between high and low water mark. The most likely parts to find them breeding seem to be some of the high land and heather in Guernsey and the sandy common on the northern part of Herm, near which place I saw a few this summer (1878) in perfect breeding plumage, and showing more signs of being paired than they generally do, and in parts of Alderney.

Professor Ansted has not mentioned it in his list. There are two specimens in the Museum, both in breeding plumage.

125. LITTLE STINT. _Tringa minuta_, Leishler. French, "Becasseau echasses," "Becasseau minute."--The Little Stint is only an occasional and never numerous autumnal visitant. I have seen one or two in the flesh at Mr. Couch's, killed towards the end of October, but I have never seen one alive or shot one myself.

It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey only. There is no specimen in the Museum.

126. SANDERLING. _Calidris arenaria_, Linnaeus. French, "Sanderling variable."--The Sanderling is a regular and rather early autumn visitant to all the Islands, as I have shot one as early as the end of August in Cobo Bay in Guernsey; this is about the time the Sanderling makes its first appearance on the opposite side of the Channel at Torbay. I have not met with it later on in October and November, but no doubt a few remain throughout the winter as they do in Torbay, where I have shot Sanderlings as late as the 27th of December; a few also probably visit the Islands on their return migration in the spring. The two in the Museum seem to bear out this, as one is nearly in winter plumage, and the other is assuming the red plumage of the breeding season, and could not have been killed before April or May.

The Sanderling is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked by him as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.

127. GREY PHALAROPE. _Phalaropus fulicarius_, Linnaeus. French, "Phalarope gris," "Phalarope roussâtre," "Phalarope phatyrhinque."[19]--The Grey Phalarope is a tolerably regular and occasionally numerous autumnal visitant to all the Islands, not, however, arriving before the end of October or beginning of November. At this time of year the greater numbers of birds are in the varied autumnal plumage so common in British-killed specimens, showing partial remains of the summer plumage; but one I have, killed in November, 1875, was in most complete winter plumage, there not being a single dark or margined feather on the bird. This perfect state of winter plumage is by no means common either in British or Channel Island specimens, so much so that I do not think I have seen one in such perfect winter plumage before.

The Grey Phalarope is included in Professor Ansted's list, but no letters marking its distribution through the Islands are added, perhaps because it was considered to be generally distributed through all of them. There is no specimen at present in the Museum.

128. HERON. _Ardea cinerea_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron cendré", "Heron huppé."--A good many Herons may be seen about the Islands at all times of the year; those that remain through the summer, though scattered over all the Islands, are probably all non-breeding birds. I have seen them fishing along the shore in Guernsey, Herm, Alderney, and the rocky islands north of Herm, but I have never seen or heard of an egg being found in either of the Islands, nor have I ever seen anything that bore the most remote resemblance to the nest of a Heron. Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to me as follows: "The Heron is said to breed occasionally on the Amfrocques and others of those small islets north of Herm." Mr. Howard Saunders, Col. L'Estrange, and myself, however, visited all these islets this last breeding season (1878), and though we saw Herons about fishing in the shallow pools left by the tide, we could see nothing that would lead us to suppose that Herons ever bred there, in fact, though Herons have been known to breed on cliffs by the sea; the Amfroques and all the other little wild rocky islets are apparently the most unlikely places for Herons to breed on. In Guernsey itself, however, it is more likely that a few Herons formerly bred, and that there was once a small Heronry in the Vale. As Mr. MacCulloch writes to me, "There is a locality in the parish of St. Samson, at the foot of Delancy Hill, in the vicinity of the marshes near the Ivy Castle, formerly thickly wooded with old elms, which bears the name of La Heronière. It may have been a resort of Herons, but I am bound to say the name may have been derived from a family called 'Heron,' now extinct." It seems to me also possible that the family derived their name from being the proprietors of the only Heronry in Guernsey. In the place mentioned by Mr. MacCulloch there are still a great many elm trees quite big enough for Herons to build in, supposing they were allowed to do so, which would not be likely at the present time. The number of Herons in the Channel Islands seems to me to be considerably increased in the autumn, probably by wanderers from the Heronries on the south coast of Devon and Dorset; on the Dart and the Exe, and near Poole.

The Heron is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the Museum.

129. PURPLE HERON. _Ardea purpurea_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron pourpre."--The Purple Heron is an occasional accidental wanderer to all the Islands. Mr. MacCulloch writes me word, "I have notes of that beautiful bird, the Purple Heron, being killed here (Guernsey) in May, 1845, and in 1849; also in Alderney on the 8th May, 1867." Curiously enough Mr. Rodd records the capture of one, a female, near the Lizard, in Cornwall, late in April of the same year.[20] When at Alderney this summer (1878) I was told that a Heron of some sort, but certainly not a Common Heron, had been shot in that Island about six weeks before my visit on the 27th of June. Accordingly I went the next morning to the bird-stuffer, Mr. Grieve, and there I found the bird and the person who shot it, who told me that it rose from some rather boggy ground at the back of the town--that he shot at it and wounded it, but it flew on towards the sea; and as it was getting rather late he did not find it till next morning, when he found it dead near the place he had marked it down the night before. It was in consequence of going to look up this bird that I found the Greenland Falcon before mentioned, which had been shot by the same person. These are all the instances I have been able to collect of the occurrence of the Purple Heron in the Channel Islands.

It is, however, included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey, probably on the authority of one of the earlier specimens mentioned by Mr. MacCulloch. There is no specimen at present in the Museum.

130. SQUACCO HERON. _Ardeola cornuta_, Pallas. French, "Heron crabier."--I have in my collection a Guernsey-killed specimen of the Squacco Heron, which Mr. Couch informed me was shot in that island in the summer of 1867, and from inquiries I have made I have no doubt this information is correct. Mr. MacCulloch also writes to me to say, "A Squacco Heron was shot in the Vale Parish on the 14th of May, 1867, no doubt the one Couch sent to you." This was duly recorded by me in the 'Zoologist' for 1872, and is, I believe, the first recorded instance of its occurrence in the Channel Islands.

It is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no specimen in the Museum.

131. BITTERN. _Botaurus stellaris_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron grand butor," "Le grand butor."--Bitterns were probably at one time more common in Guernsey than they are at present, drainage and better cultivation having contributed to thin their numbers, as it has done in England; and Mr. MacCulloch tells me that in his youth they were by no means uncommon. Of late years, however, they have become much more uncommon, though, as he adds, specimens have been shot within the last three or four years. They seem now, however, to be confined to occasional autumnal and winter visitants. Mr. Couch says ('Zoologist' for 1871):--"On the 30th December, 1874, after a heavy fall of snow, I had a female Bittern brought to me to be stuffed, shot in the morning in the Marais; and on the 2nd of January following another was shot on the beach near the Vale Church. I had also part of some of the quill-feathers of a Bittern sent to me for identification by Mrs. Jago, which had been killed in the Islands the last week in January, 1879." These are the most recent specimens I have been able to get any account of. The bird-stuffer in Alderney (Mr. Grieve) and his friend told me they had shot Bitterns in that island, but did not remember the date.

The Bittern is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum.

132. AMERICAN BITTERN. _Botaurus lentiginosus_, Montagu. French, "Heron lentigineux."[21]--This occasional straggler from the New World has once, in its wanderings, reached the Channel Islands, and was shot in Guernsey on the 27th October, 1870, and was duly recorded by me in the 'Zoologist' for 1871; it is now in my collection. This is the only occurrence of this bird in the Channel Islands yet recorded; but as the bird occasionally crosses to this side of the Atlantic--several specimens having occurred in the British Islands--it may possibly occur in Guernsey or some of the Channel Islands again. It may, therefore, be as well to point out the principal distinctions between this bird and the Common Bittern last mentioned. Between the adult birds there can be no mistake: the longer and looser feathers on the fore part of the neck, which are slightly streaked and freckled with dark brown, may be immediately distinguished from the much shorter and more regularly marked feathers on the neck of the adult American Bittern. This distinction, however, is not perfectly clear in young birds; but, at any age or in any state of plumage, the birds may be immediately distinguished by the primary quill-feathers, which in the American Bittern are a uniform dark chocolate-brown without any marks whatever, while in the Common Bittern they are much marked and streaked with pale yellowish brown; this may be always relied on at any age or in any plumage.

The American Bittern is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, no specimen having been found in the Channel Islands till after the publication of his list, and of course there is no specimen in the Museum.

133. LITTLE BITTERN. _Ardetta minuta_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron Blongios."[22]--I only know of one occurrence of the Little Bittern in the Channel Islands, and that was towards the end of November, 1876; and Mr. Couch writes to me as follows on the 3rd of December: "A very good Little Bittern was caught alive in the Vale Road; after being shot at and missed by two men, a young man in the road threw his pocket-handkerchief at it and brought it in to me alive." Mr. Couch also informed me, when he forwarded me the specimen, that it was a male by dissection. It is now in my collection, and is a young bird of the year. I am rather sorry that as Mr. Couch got it alive he did not forward it to me in that state, as, unless it had been wounded by the two shots, I have no doubt I should have been able to keep it alive and observe its habits and changes of plumage as it advanced towards maturity.

The Little Bittern is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum.

134. SPOONBILL. _Platalea leucorodia_, Linnaeus. French, "Spatule blanche."--An occasional but by no means common visitant to the Channel Islands. I have been able to hear of but very few instances of its occurrence or capture of late years; Mr. Couch, however, writes me, in a letter dated November, 1873, that a Spoonbill was brought to him to stuff. In all probability this is the same bird recorded by Mr. Broughton in the 'Field' for October 25th, 1873, and in the 'Zoologist' for January, 1874. This is the only very recent specimen I have been able to trace; but Mr. Broughton in his note mentions the occurrence of one about twenty years before; and Mrs. Jago, who, when she was Miss Cumber, did a good deal of bird-stuffing in Guernsey, told me she had stuffed a Spoonbill for the Museum about twenty years ago. This is probably the other one mentioned by Mr. Broughton, and he may have seen it in the Museum; it is not there, however, now--either having become moth-eaten, and consequently thrown away, or lost when the Museum changed its quarters across the market-place. Mr. MacCulloch does not seem to consider the Spoonbill such a very rare visitant to the Channel Islands, as he writes to me, "The Spoonbill is not near so rare a visitor as you seem to think; specimens were killed here in 1844, and in previous years, and again in 1849, and in October, 1873.[23] They are seldom solitary, but generally appear in small flocks. I forget whether it was in 1844 or 1849 that flocks were reported to have been seen in various parts of England, even as far west as Penzance. I think that in one of these years as many as a dozen were seen here in a flock." Mr. Rodd, in his 'List of the Birds of Cornwall,' does not mention either of these years as great years for Spoonbills, only saying, "Occasionally, and especially of late years, observed in various parts of the county; a flock of several was seen and captured at Gwithian; others have been obtained from the neighbourhood of Penzance, and also from Scilly."[24]

The Spoonbill is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the Museum, the one stuffed by Miss Cumber having, as above mentioned, disappeared.

135. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. _Anser albifrons_, Scopoli. French, "Oie rieuse, ou à front blanc."--None of the Grey Geese seem common in Guernsey; neither the Greylag, the Bean, nor the Pink-footed Goose have, as far as I am aware, been obtained about the Islands, nor have I ever seen any either alive or in the market, where they would be almost sure to be brought had they been shot by any of the fishermen or gunners about the Islands. There is one specimen, however, of the White-fronted Goose in the Museum, which I have reason to believe was killed in or near Guernsey; and this is the only specimen of this Goose which, as far as I am aware, has been taken in the Islands.

The White-fronted Goose is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey. The Greylag and the Bean Goose are also included in the list, the Greylag marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark, and the Bean as only in Guernsey; but no information beyond the letter marking the locality is given as to either; and the only specimen in the Museum is the White-fronted Goose above mentioned, neither of the others being represented there now, nor do I remember ever having seen a specimen of either there.

136. BRENT GOOSE. _Bernicla brenta_, Brisson. French, "Oie cravant," "Bernache cravant."--The Brent Goose is a regular winter visitant to all the Islands, varying, however, in numbers in different years: sometimes it is very numerous, and affords good sport during the winter to the fishermen, who generally take a gun in the boat with them as soon as the close season is over, sometimes before. The flocks generally consist mostly of young birds of the year; the fully adult birds, however, though fewer in number, are in sufficient numbers to make a very fair show.

Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark; it is, however, quite as common about Herm and Alderney. There is no specimen at present in the Museum.

137. MUTE SWAN. _Cygnus olor_, Linnaeus. French, "Cygne tuberculé."--I do not believe this bird has ever visited the Channel Islands in a thoroughly wild state, though it is pretty widely spread over Europe; its range, however, being generally more to the east than the Channel Islands. Mr. Couch, however, at page 4939 of the 'Zoologist' for 1874, records the occurrence of two Mute Swans on the 7th of September at the Braye Pond, where they were shot. He also says that "five others passed over the Island the same day; they were flying low, and, judging from their colour, were young birds." As no one in the Islands keeps Swans, these were most probably a family party that had strayed away from the Swannery at Abbotsbury, on the opposite coast of Dorset, where some three hundred and fifty pairs still breed annually. I have myself seen as many six hundred and thirty birds there, the hens sitting and the old males each resting quietly by the nest, keeping guard over the female and the eggs. The distance from the Abbotsbury Swannery, which is at the extreme end of the Chesil Beach, in Dorsetshire, to Guernsey is nothing great for Swans to wander; and they often, both old and young (after the young are able to fly), wander away from their home as far as Exmouth on one side and Weymouth Bay or the Needles on the other; and an expedition to Guernsey would be little more than to one of these places, and by September the young, which are generally hatched tolerably early in June (I have seen a brood out with their parents on the water as early as the 27th of May), would be perfectly able to wander, either by themselves or with their parents, as far as the Channel Islands, and, as at this time they rove about outside the Chesil Beach a good deal, going sometimes a long way out to sea, there is no reason they should not do so. It seems a great pity that these fine birds should be shot when they wander across channel to Guernsey, especially when it must be apparent to every one that they are really private property. If the present long close season is to be continued, the Mute Swan might well be added to the somewhat unreasonable list of birds in the Guernsey Sea-birds Act; at all events, Swans would be better worth preserving than Plongeons or Cormorants.