Part 4

Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks appended to Professor Ansted's list, says the Ring Ouzel stays with us throughout the year, but is more plentiful in winter than in summer. But I have never myself seen one either dead or alive in the spring or summer. It may, however, occasionally visit the Island in the spring migration, but I know of no authentic instance of its remaining to breed, nor have I seen the eggs in any Guernsey collection. I have seen specimens of the Ring Ouzel from Alderney, and it appears to me about equally common at the same time of year in all the Islands. Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to me:--"From what I have heard the Ring Ouzel is more common in Alderney than Guernsey, where it is seen mostly on the southern cliffs." The south end of the Island is no doubt its favourite resort in Guernsey. As far as Alderney is concerned Captain Hubback, R.A., who has been quartered there at different times, says he has never seen one there; but I do not think he has been much there in the early autumn.

Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are several, both male and female and young, in the Guernsey Museum.

28. HBDGESPARROW. _Accentor modularis_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouchet," "Traîne buisson," "Accenteur mouchet."--The Hedgesparrow is, I think, quite as common as in England, and resident throughout the year in all the Islands. According to Mr. Métivier's 'Dictionary' its local name is "Verdeleu," and he describes it as "Oiseau qui couvre les oeufs de Coucou." In Guernsey, however, Cuckoos are much too numerous for the Hedgesparrow to afford accommodation for them all.

Professor Ansted mentions the Hedgesparrow in his list, but restricts it to Guernsey and Sark. I have, however, frequently seen it in Alderney and Herm, and the little Island of Jethou.

29. ROBIN. _Ericathus rubecula_, Linnaeus. French. "Bec-fin rouge-gorge," "Rouge gorge." The Robin, like the Hedgesparrow, is a common resident in all the Islands, and I cannot find that its numbers are increased at any time of year by migration. But on the other hand I should think a good many of the young must be driven off to seek quarters elsewhere by their most pugnacious parents, for of all birds the Robin is by far the most pugnacious with which I am acquainted, and deserves the name of "pugnax" much more than the Ruff, and in a limited space like Jethou and Herm battles between the old and the young would be constant unless some of the young departed altogether from the Island.

Professor Ansted includes the Robin in his list, but, as with the Hedgesparrow, only mentions it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. It is, however, equally common in Alderney, Jethou, and Herm.

30. REDSTART. _Ruticilla phoenicurus_, Linnaeus. French, "Rouge-queue," "Bec-fin des murailles."--I should not have included the Redstart in this list, as I have never seen it in the Islands myself, but on sending a list of the birds I intended to include to Mr. MacCulloch, he wrote to say--"You mention Tithy's Redstart; the common one is also seen here." In consequence of this information I looked very sharply out for the birds during the two months (June and July) which I was in Guernsey this year (1878), but I never once saw the bird in any of the Islands, nor could I find any one who had; and such a conspicuous and generally well known bird could hardly have escaped observation had it been in the Island in any numbers. I may add that I have had the same bad luck in all my former visits to the Islands, and never seen a Redstart. I suppose, however, from Mr. MacCulloch's note that it occasionally visits the Islands for a short time on migration, very few, if any, remaining to breed.

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

31. BLACK REDSTART. _Ruticilla titys_, Scopoli. French, "Rouge queue Tithys."--The Black, or Tithys Redstart, as it is sometimes called, is a regular and by no means uncommon autumnal visitant to Guernsey. It seems very much to take the place of the Wheatear, arriving about the time the Wheatear departs, and mostly frequenting the same places. In Guernsey it is most common near the sea about the low part of the Island, from L'ancresse Common to Perrelle Bay. In habits it puts one very much in mind of the Wheatear, being very fond, like that bird, of selecting some big stone or some other conspicuous place to perch on and keep a look-out either for intruders or for some passing insect, either flying or creeping, for it is an entirely insect-feeding bird.

I have never seen the Black Redstart about the high part of the Island amongst the rocks, which I am rather surprised at, as in the south coast of Devon it seems particularly partial to high cliffs and rocks, such as the Parson and Clerk Rock near Teignmouth; but in Guernsey the wild grassy commons, with scattered rocks and large boulders, and occasionally a rough pebbly beach, especially the upper part of it where the pebbles join the grass, seem more the favourite resort of this bird than the high rocks, such places probably being more productive of food. It is of course quite useless to look for this bird in the interior of the Island in gardens and orchards, and such places as one would naturally look for the Common Redstart.

The male Black Redstart may be immediately distinguished from the Common Redstart by the black breast and belly, and by the absence of the white mark on the forehead. The male Black Redstart has also a white patch on the wing caused by the pale, nearly white, margins of the feathers. The females are more alike, but still may easily be distinguished, the general colour of the female Black Redstart being much duller--a dull smoke-brown instead of the reddish brown of the Common Redstart.

Some slight variations of plumage take place in the Black Redstart at different ages and seasons, which have led to some little difficulties, and to another supposed species, _Ruticilla cairii_ of Gerbe being suggested, but apparently quite without reason. I have never seen the Black Redstart in the Islands at any time of year except the autumn, and do not know of its occurrence at any other time.

Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but gives no locality; and there is no specimen in the Museum.

32. STONECHAT. _Pratincola rubicola_, Linnaeus. French, "Tarier rubicole," "Traquet pâtre," "Traquet rubicole."--The Stonechat is a numerous and regular summer visitant, breeding in all the Islands, but I do not think any remain throughout the winter; of course a few scattered birds may occasionally do so in some sheltered locality, but I have never seen one in the Islands as late as November. Both in the Vale and on the Cliffs in the higher part of the Island the Stonechat is very common, and the gay little bird, with its bright plumage and sprightly manner, may be seen on the top of every furze bush, or on a conspicuous twig in a hedge in the wilder parts of the Island, but is not so common in the inland and more cultivated parts, being less frequently seen on the hedges by the roadside than it is here, Somersetshire, or in many counties in England. In Alderney it is quite as common as in Guernsey, and I saw two nests this year (1878) amongst the long grass growing on the earthworks near the Artillery Barracks; it is equally common also both in Jethou, Sark, and Herm.

There were a great many Stonechats in the Vale when I was there this year (1878). Generally they seemed earlier in their breeding proceedings than either Wheatears, Tree Pipits, or Sky Larks, which were the three other most numerous birds about that part of the Island, as there were several young ones about when we first went to live in the Vale early in June; still occasionally nests with eggs more or less hard sat might be found, but the greater number were hatched when fresh eggs of Tree Pipits and Sky Larks were by no means uncommon.

Professor Ansted includes the Stonechat in his list, but marks it as confined to Guernsey and Sark. There is a specimen in the Museum.

33. WHINCHAT. _Pratincola rubetra_, Linnaeus. French, "Tarier ordinaire," "Traquet tarier."--The Whinchat seems to me never so numerous as the Stonechat, and more local in its distribution during the time it is in the Islands. It is only a summer visitant, and I doubt if it always remains to breed, though it certainly does so occasionally, as I have seen it in Guernsey through June and July mostly in the south part of the Island, near Pleimont. In my last visit to the Islands, however, in June and July, 1878, I did not see the Whinchat anywhere, neither did I see one when there in June, 1876.

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

34. WHEATEAR. _Saxicola Oenanthe,_ Linnaeus. French, "Motteux cul blanc," "Traquet moteux."--A very common summer visitant to all the Islands, arriving in March and departing again in October, none remaining through the winter--at least, I have never seen a Wheatear in the Islands as late as November on any occasion. In the Vale, where a great many breed, the young began to make their appearance out of the nest and flying about, but still fed by their parents, about the 16th of June. In Guernsey it is rather locally distributed, being common all round the coast, both on the high and low part of the Island, but only making its appearance in the cultivated part in the interior as an occasional straggler. It is quite as common in Alderney and the other Islands as it is in Guernsey, in Alderney there being few or no enclosures, and no hedgerow timber. It is more universally distributed over the whole Island, in the cultivated as well as the wild parts.

Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but marks it as only occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are several specimens in the Museum, but I did not see any eggs either there or in young Le Cheminant's collection. This is probably because in Guernsey the Wheatear has a great partiality for laying its eggs under large slabs and boulders of granite perfectly immovable; the stones forming one of the Druids' altars in the Vale, were made use of to cover a nest when I was there.

35. REED WARBLER. _Acrocephalus streperus_, Vieillot. French, "Rousserolle effarvatte," "Bec-fin des roseaux."--I did not find out the Reed Warbler as a Guernsey bird till this year (1878), though it is a rather numerous but very local summer visitant. But Mr. MacCulloch put me on the right track, as he wrote to me to say--"The Reed Warbler builds in the Grand Mare. I have seen several of their curious hanging nests brought from there." This put me on the right scent, and I went to the place as soon as I could, and found parts of it a regular paradise for Reed Warblers, and there were a considerable number there, who seemed to enjoy the place thoroughly, climbing to the tops of the long reeds and singing, then flying up after some passing insect, or dropping like a stone to the bottom of the reed-bed if disturbed or frightened. On my first visit to the Grand Mare I had not time to search the reed-beds for nests. But on going there a second time, on June 17, with Colonel l'Estrange, we had a good search for nests, and soon found one with four eggs in it which were quite fresh. This nest was about three feet from the ground, tied on to four reeds,[9] and, as usual, having no support at the bottom, was made entirely of long dry bents of rather coarse grass, and a little of the fluff of the cotton plant woven amongst the bents outside, but none inside. We did not find any other nests in the Grand Mare, though we saw a great many more birds; the reeds, however, were very thick and tall, high over our heads, so that when we were a few feet apart we could not see each other, and the place was full of pitfalls with deep water in them, which were very difficult to be seen and avoided. Many of the nests, I suspect, were amongst the reeds which were growing out of the water. Subsequently, on July the 12th, I found another Reed Warbler's nest amongst some reeds growing by Mr. De Putron's pond near the Vale Church; this nest, which was attached to reeds of the same kind as those at the Grand Mare, growing out of water about a foot deep: it was about the same height above the water that the other was from the ground; it had five eggs in it hard sat. There were one or two pairs more breeding amongst these reeds, though I could not very well get at the place without a boat, but the birds were very noisy and vociferous whenever I got near their nests, as were the pair whose nest I found. There were also a few pairs in some reed-beds of the same sort near L'Eree.

These are all the places in which I have been able to find the Reed Warbler in Guernsey. I have not found it myself in Alderney, but Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks published with Professor Ansted's list, says:--"I have put the Reed Wren as doubtful for Guernsey, but I have seen the nest of this bird found at Alderney." In the list itself it is marked as belonging to Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark.

The Reed Warbler, though entirely insectivorous, is a very tame and amusing cage-bird, and may easily be fed on raw meat chopped fine and a little hard-boiled egg; but its favourite food is flies, and of these it will eat any quantity, and woe even to the biggest bluebottle that may buzz through its cage, for the active little bird will have it in a moment, and after a few sharp snaps of the beak there is quite an end of the bluebottle. Daddy long-legs, too, are favourite morsels, and after a little beating about disappear down the bird's throat--legs, wings, and all, without any difficulty. The indigestible parts are afterwards cast up in pellets in the same manner as with Hawks.

I have never seen the nearly-allied and very similar Marsh Warbler, _Acrocephalus palustris_, in Guernsey, but, as it may occasionally occur, it may be as well perhaps to point out what little distinction there is between the species. This seems to me to consist chiefly in the difference of colour, the Reed Warbler, _Acrocephalus streperus_, at all ages and in all states of plumage, being a warmer, redder brown than _Acrocephalus palustris_, which is always more or less tinged with green. The legs in _A. streperus_ are always darker than in _A. palustris_; the beak also in _A. palustris_ seems rather broader at the base and thicker. This bird also has a whitish streak over the eye, which seems wanting in _A. streperus._ These distinctions seem to me always to hold, good even in specimens which have been kept some time and have faded to what has now generally got the name of "Museum colour."

Mr. Dresser, in his 'Birds of Europe,' points out another distinction which no doubt is a good one in adult birds with their quills fully grown, but fails in young birds and in adults soon after the moult, before the quills are fully grown, and also before the moult if any quills have been shed and not replaced. This distinction is that in _A. streperus_ the second (that is the first long quill, for the first in both species is merely rudimentary) is shorter than the fourth, and in _A. palustris_ it is longer.

Though I think it not at all improbable that the Marsh Warbler, _Acrocephalus palustris_, may occur in Guernsey, I should not expect to find it so much in the wet reed-beds in the Grand Mare and at the Vale pond as amongst the lilac bushes and ornamental shrubs in the gardens, or in thick bramble bushes in hedgerows and places of that sort.

36. SEDGE WARBLER. _Acrocephalus schoenobaenus_, Linnaeus. French, "Bee-fin phragmite."--The Sedge Warbler is by no means so common as the Reed Warbler, though, like it, it is a summer visitant, and is quite as local. I did not see any amongst the reeds which the Reed Warbler delighted in, but I saw a few amongst some thick willow hedges with thick grass and rushes growing by the side of the bank, and a small running stream in each ditch. Though perfectly certain the birds were breeding near, we could not find the nests. So well were they hidden amongst the thick grass and herbage by the side of the stream that Colonel l'Estrange and myself were quite beaten in our search for the nest, though we saw the birds several times quite near enough to be certain of their identity. I did not shoot one for the purpose of identification, as perhaps I ought to have done, but I thought if I shot one it would be extremely doubtful whether I should ever find it amongst the thick tangle--certainly unless quite dead there would not have been a chance. I felt quite certain, however, that all I saw were Sedge Warblers; had I felt any doubt as to the possibility of one of them turning out to be the Aquatic Warbler, _Acrocephalus aquaticus_, I should certainly have tried the effect of a shot. As it is quite possible, however, that the Aquatic Warbler may occasionally, or perhaps regularly, in small numbers, visit the Channel Islands, as they are quite within its geographical range, I may point out, for the benefit of any one into whose hands it may fall, that it may easily be distinguished from the Sedge Warbler by the pale streak passing through the centre of the dark crown of the head.

The Sedge Warbler is not mentioned by Professor Ansted in his list, and there is no specimen of either this or the Reed Warbler in the Museum.

37. DARTFORD WARBLER. _Melizophilus undatus,_ Boddaert. French, "Pitchou Provencal," "Bee-fin Pittechou."--The Dartford Warbler is by no means common in the Channel Islands--indeed I have never seen one there myself, but Miss C.B. Carey records one in the 'Zoologist' for 1874 as having been knocked down with a stone in the April of that year and brought into Couch's shop, where she saw it. I have no doubt of the correctness of this identification, as Miss Carey knew the bird well. I see no reason why it should not be more common in Guernsey than is usually supposed, as there are many places well suited to it, but its rather dull plumage, and its habit of hiding itself in thick furze-bushes, and creeping from one to another as soon as disturbed, contribute to keep it much out of sight, unless one knows and can imitate its call-note, in which case the male bird will soon answer and flutter up to the topmost twig of the furze-bush in which it may have previously been concealed, fluttering its wings, and repeating the call until again disturbed. This is the only occurrence of which I am aware in any of the Islands, included in the limits I have prescribed for myself; but Mr. Harvie Brown has recorded two seen by him near Grève de Lecq, in Jersey, in January. See 'Zoologist' for 1869, p. 1561.

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

38. WHITETHROAT. _Sylvia rufa_, Boddaert. French, "Fauvette grise," "Bec-fin Grisette."--The Whitethroat has hitherto perhaps been better known by the name used in the former edition of 'Yarrell' and by Messrs. Degland and Gerbe, _Curruca cinerea_, but in consequence of the inexorable rule of the British Association the name "_rufa_," given by Boddaert in 1783, has now been accepted for this bird. I have not generally thought it necessary to point out these changes, but in this instance it seemed necessary to do so, as in the former edition of 'Yarrell' the Chiffchaff was called by the name _Sylvia rufa_, and this might possibly have caused some confusion unless the change had been pointed out.

The Whitethroat is by no means so common in the Channel Islands as it is in England, and though a regular summer visitant it only makes its appearance in small numbers. A few, however, may be seen about the fields and hedgerows in the more cultivated parts of the country. It certainly has not got the reputation for mischief in the garden it has in England, as none of the gardeners I asked about it, and who were complaining grievously of the mischief done by birds, ever mentioned the Whitethroat, or knew the bird when asked about it.

Professor Ansted includes the bird in his list, and restricts it to Guernsey, but I see no reason why it should not occur equally in Sark and Herm. There is no specimen at present in the Museum.

39. LESSER WHITETHROAT. _Sylvia curruca_, Linnaeus. French, "Bee-fin babillard."--Like the Whitethroat, the Lesser Whitethroat is a regular, but by no means a numerous summer visitant to Guernsey. I saw a few in the willow-hedges about the Grand Mare, and in one or two other places near there, and young Le Cheminant had one or two eggs in his collection, probably taken about L'Eree.

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

40. BLACKCAP. _Sylvia atricapilla_, Linnaeus. French, "Fauvette à tête noire," "Bec-fin à tête noire."--Though generally known as the Guernsey Nightingale, the Blackcap, though a regular, is by no means a numerous summer visitant. I have, however, always seen a few about every time I have been in the Island in the summer. There are a few eggs in the Museum, and in Le Cheminant's collection.

The Blackcap is mentioned by Professor Ansted in his list, and restricted to Guernsey. There is only one specimen--a female--at present in the Museum.

41. WILLOW WREN. _Phylloscopus trochilus_, Linnaeus. French, "Bee-fin Pouillat."--The Willow Wren is a tolerably numerous summer visitant, I believe, to all the Islands, though I have only seen it myself in Guernsey and Sark. In Guernsey I have seen it about the Grand Mare, and in some trees near the road about St. George, and about the Vallon on the other side of the Island. It remains all the summer and breeds.

Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, although it seems tolerably well known, and has a local name "D'mouâiselle," which Mr. Métivier, in his 'Dictionary,' applies to the Willow Wren of the English. This name, however, is probably equally applicable to the Chiffchaff.

42. CHIFFCHAFF. _Phylloscopus collybita_, Vieillot. French, "Bee-fin veloce."--The Chiffchaff is certainly more common in Guernsey than the Willow Wren. In Guernsey I have seen it in several places; about Candie, where a pair had a nest this summer in the mowing-grass before the house; near the Vallon; and about St. George. I have also seen it in Sark, but not in either of the other Islands, though no doubt it occurs in Herm, if not in Alderney.

It is mentioned by Professor Ansted as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. I have never seen the Wood Wren in Guernsey, and, judging from its favourite habitations here in Somerset, I should not think it at all likely to remain in the Channel Islands through the summer, though an occasional straggler may touch the Islands on migration. There is no specimen of either the Chiffchaff or Willow Wren in the Museum.