Chapter 12

157. LITTLE AUK. _Mergulus alle_, Linnaeus. French, "Guillemot nain."--The Little Auk can only be considered a rare occasional wanderer to the Channel Islands, generally driven before the heavy autumnal and winter gales. I only know of the occurrence of two specimens: one of these was recorded by Mr. Couch in the 'Zoologist' for 1875, as having been killed on the 30th January in that year; and I had a letter from Mr. Couch, dated the 20th December, 1872, in which he informed me that a Little Auk had been taken alive in Guernsey on the 17th of that month: this one had probably, as is often the case, been driven ashore during a gale, and, being too exhausted to rise, had been taken by hand.

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

158. PUFFIN. _Fratercula arctica_, Linnaeus. French, "Macareux."--The Puffin, or Barbelote[27] as it is called by the Guernsey sailors and in the Guernsey Bird Act, is a regular and numerous summer visitant to the Islands, breeding in considerable numbers in many places. None breed, however, in Guernsey itself, or in any of the little rocky islands immediately surrounding it. Some breed on Sark and the islands about it, and a few also on Herm; but their great breeding quarters about these parts are from the Amfrocques to the north end of Herm. On every one of the little rocky islands between these places, and including the Amfrocques, considerable numbers of Puffins breed, either in holes in the soft soil which has accumulated on some of these islands, or amongst the loose rocks and stones; these latter, however, are the safest places for the Puffin, as, in spite of the Guernsey Bird Act, which protects the eggs as well as the birds, the Guernsey fishermen are fond of visiting these islands whenever they can for the purpose of what they call "Barbeloting;" and they soon lift up the loose earth with their hands and get at the eggs; but the Puffins, who have laid in holes in the rocks and amongst loose stones, are much better off, as a good big stone of two or three tons is not so easily moved. I visited all these little islands in the summer of 1878 with Mr. Howard Saunders, and we found all the Puffins who had had eggs in holes in the earth had been robbed almost without an exception; the others, however, were pretty safe. Besides these islands the Puffins breed in Alderney itself, and on Burhou, where, however, their eggs are robbed nearly as much as in the islands north of Herm, especially the eggs of those who choose holes in the soft earth. The Puffins do not seem to be very regular in their time of nesting; at least, when I was at Burhou on the 14th of June, 1876, I found quite fresh eggs, eggs just ready to hatch, young birds in the down, and young birds just beginning to get a few feathers and almost able to take to the water; it was fun to see one of these when he had been unearthed waddle off to the nearest hole as fast as his legs could carry him--generally, however, coming down every second or third step. The reason for the irregularity in hatching was probably owing to the first brood having been lost, the eggs probably having been robbed. During the breeding season the Puffins keep very close to their breeding-stations, and do not apparently wander more than a few hundred yards from them even in search of food; so that, unless you actually visit the islands on which they breed, you can form no idea of the number of Puffins actually breeding in the Channel Islands. The number of Puffins, however, at Burhou seem to me to have considerably diminished of late years, for in the summer of 1866, when going through the Swinge, we passed a great flock of these birds; "in fact, for more than a mile both air and water were swarming with them."[28] This certainly was not the case in either 1876 or 1878, though there were still a great many Puffins there; probably the continued egg-stealing has had some effect in reducing their numbers. After the breeding-season the Puffins seem to leave the Channel Islands for the winter, as they do at Lundy Island and in the British Channel; they may return occasionally, as they do in the Bristol Channel, for a short time in foggy weather; but I have never seen a Puffin in any of my passages in October and November, or in any boating expedition at that time of year, and I have never heard any of the boatmen talk about Barbelotes being seen about in the winter. An unsigned paper, however, in the 'Star' for April 27th, 1878, mentions Puffins amongst other winter birds; but I very much doubt their making their appearance in the winter except as accidental visitants; there is one specimen, however, in the Museum, which, judging by the bill, must have been killed in the winter, or, at all events, to quote Dr. Bureau, "après la saison des amours." Dr. Bureau, in a very interesting paper[29] on this curious change, or rather moult, which takes place in the bill of the Puffin, and which has been translated into the 'Zoologist' for 1878, where a plate showing the changes is given, says that Puffins are cast ashore on the coast of Brittany during the winter, for he says they leave the coast, as I believe they do that of the Channel Islands, and the only indication of their continuing there is that dead birds are rolled on the shore after severe gales in the autumn and winter; and "these birds are clad in a plumage different to that worn by those we get in the breeding-season. In the orbital region, for instance, they have a spot, more or less large, of a dusky brown; they have not the red eyelids, nor the horny plates above and below the eye, nor have they the puckered yellow skin at the base of the bill, and, what is still more remarkable, the bill is differently formed; it is neither of the same size, shape, nor colour, and the pieces of which it is composed are not even the same. It is small sliced off (trongué) in front, especially at the lower mandible, wanting the pleat (ourlet) at the base, and flattened laterally on a level with the nostrils, where a solid horny skin of a bright lead-colour is replaced by a short membrane." The whole paper by Dr. Bureau on this subject is most interesting, but is much too long for me to insert here; the nature, however, of the change which takes place must be so interesting to many of my readers who are familiar with the Puffin in its breeding plumage, and who, in spite of the Bird Act, perhaps occasionally enjoy a day's "Barbeloting," that I could not help quoting as much of the paper as would be sufficient to point out the general nature of the change.

The Puffin is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as occurring only in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum; one in the ordinary summer plumage, and one apparently in the winter plumage above described; but it is difficult to be quite certain on the subject, as it has been smeared over with bird-stuffer's paint, probably with the view of making it as like the ordinary summer plumage as possible.

159. RAZORBILL. _Alca torda_, Linnaeus. French, "Pingouin macroptere."--The Razorbill is not by any means numerous in the Channel Islands, but a few breed about Ortack, and, as has been said before, in Alderney, but nowhere else; and they are by no means so numerous as the Guillemot. It is resident throughout the year, though perhaps more common in the autumn than at any other time. Mr. Harvey Brown,[30] however, mentions seeing a small flock swim by with the tide, at the north-end of Herm, in January. Mr. MacCulloch writes me word he has a note of a Razorbill Auk shot in Guernsey on the 14th February, 1847; this, of course, is only a young Razorbill of the previous year, which had not at that time fully developed its bill.

The Razorbill is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There are two Razorbills in the Museum, one in summer and one in winter plumage.

160. CORMORANT. _Phalacrocorax carbo_, Linnaeus. French, "Grand cormoran."--The Cormorant is by no means common in the Islands; I have never seen it about Guernsey, though I have seen one or two near Herm; I do not know that it breeds anywhere in the Islands, except at Burhou, and there only one or two pairs breed. I was shown the nesting-place just at the opening of a small sort of cavern; there was, however, only the remains of one egg that had been hatched, and probably the young gone off with its parents. I, however, received an adult bird and a young bird of the year, shot in the harbour at Alderney in August of that year, and those are the only Channel Island specimens of the Cormorant that I have seen.

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

161. SHAG. _Phalacrocorax graculus_, Linnaeus. French, "Cormoran largup."--The Shag almost entirely takes the place, as well as usurps the name, of its big brother, as in the Islands it is invariably called the Cormorant. The local Guernsey-French name "Cormoran" is applicable probably to either the Shag or the Cormorant. The Shag is the most numerous of the sea birds which frequent the Islands, the Herring Gull not even excepted, every nook and corner of the high cliffs in all the Islands being occupied by scores of Shags during the breeding-season. They take care, however, to place their nests in tolerably inaccessible places that cannot well be reached without a rope. The principal breeding-places are--in Guernsey, about the Gull Cliffs, and from there to Petit Bo, and a few, but not so many, on the rocks between there and Fermain, wherever they can find a place; none breed on the north or west side of the Island; in Jethou and Herm, and on the rock called La Fauconnière, a few also breed, but not so many as in Guernsey, and we did not find any breeding on the Amfrocques or the other rocks to the north of Herm. On Sark they breed in great numbers, mostly on the west side nearest to Guernsey, and on the Isle de Marchant or Brechou, especially on the grand cliffs on both sides the narrow passage which divides that Island from the mainland of Sark, and from there to the Coupée, and from there round Little Sark to the Creux Harbour on the south-east. On the east side, that towards the French coast, there are few or none breeding, the cliffs not being so well suited to them; a great number breed also on Alderney, on the high cliffs on the south and east, but none on Burhou. The Shags appear to breed rather earlier than the Herring Gulls; when I was in the Islands in June, 1876, almost all the Shags had hatched, and the young were standing by their parents on the rocks close to their nests. When I visited some of the breeding-places of the Shags on the 27th of May, 1878, neither Gulls nor Shags had hatched, but when I went to the Gull Cliff on the 20th of June I found nearly all the Shags had hatched, though none or very few of the Herring Gulls had done so; some of the young Shags had left the nests and were about on the water; others were nearly ready to leave, and several were little things quite in the down. Though it is generally easy to look down upon the Shags on their nests, and to get a good view at a short distance of the eggs and the young, it is, as a rule, by no means easy to get at them without a rope; in a few places, however, their nests are more accessible, and a hard climb on the rocks, perhaps with a burning sun making them almost too hot to hold, will bring you within reach of a Shag's nest; but I would not advise any one who tries it to put on his "go-to-meeting clothes," as the deposit of guano on the rocks will spoil anything; and only let him smell his hands after his exploit--they do smell so nice! One of the parents generally stands by the young after they are hatched, I suppose to prevent them from wandering about and falling off the rocks, as the positions of some of them seem very critical, there being only just room for the family to stand; the other parent is generally away fishing, only returning at intervals to feed his family and dry his feathers before making a fresh start; sometimes one parent takes a turn to stay by the young, and sometimes the other. The usual number of young appeared to be three, sometimes only one or two; but in these cases it is probable that a young one or two may have waddled off the rock, or got into a crevice from which the parents could not extricate it, accidents which I should think frequently happen; or an egg or two may have been blown from the nest, or egg or young fallen a victim to some marauding Herring Gull during the absence of the parents. The Shag assumes its full breeding-plumage and crest very early; I have one in perfect breeding-plumage, killed in February; and Miss C.B. Carey mentions in the 'Zoologist' having seen one in Mr. Couch's shop with its full crest in January. I do not quite know at what time the young bird assumes adult plumage, but I have one just changing from the brown plumage of the young to adult plumage. Many of the green feathers of the adult are making their appearance amongst the brown ones; this one I shot on the 26th June, 1866, near the harbour Goslin, at Sark, near a large breeding-station of Shags and Herring Gulls: if it is, as I suppose, a young bird of the year, it would show a very early change to adult plumage, but of course it might have been a young bird of the previous year; but, as a rule, young birds of the previous year are not allowed about the breeding-stations, any more than they are by the Herring Gulls.

The Shag is included in Professor Ansted's list, but curiously enough only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There are two adult specimens and one young bird and one young in down in the Museum.

162. GANNET. _Sula bassana_, Linnaeus. French, "Fou de bassan."--The Gannet, or Solan Goose, as it is sometimes called, is a regular autumn and winter visitant to all the Islands, but never so numerous, I think, as on the south coast of Devon; birds, however, in all states of plumage, young birds as well as adults, and in the various intermediate or spotted states of plumage, make their appearance. It stays on through the winter, but never remains to breed as it does regularly at Lundy Island. I have seen both adults and young birds fishing round Guernsey, and Mrs. Jago (late Miss Cumber) told me she had had several through her hands when she was the bird-stuffer there; she also wrote to me on the 16th March, 1879, to say a fully adult Gannet had been shot in Fermain Bay on the 15th; and Mr. Grieve, the carpenter and bird-stuffer at Alderney, had the legs and wings of an adult bird, shot by him near that Island, nailed up behind the door of his shop. I do not think, however, that the strong tides, rough seas, and sunken rocks of the Channel Islands suit the fishing operations of the Gannet as well as the smoother seas of the south coast of Devon; not but what the Gannet can stand any amount of rough sea; and I have seen it dash after fish into seas that one would have thought must have rolled it over and drowned it, especially as it rose to the surface gulping down its prey.

It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There are three specimens, an adult and two young, in the Museum.

163. COMMON TERN. _Sterna fluviatilis_, Naumann. French, "Hirondelle de mer," "Pierre garin." The Common Tern is a regular but not numerous spring and autumn visitant to the Islands, some remaining to breed. I do not know that it breeds anywhere in Guernsey itself, but it may do so, for in the Vale in the summer of 1878 I saw more than one pair about the two bays, Grand Havre and L'Ancresse, all through the summer; some of them certainly seemed paired, but I never could find where their nests were; some of the others apparently were non-breeding birds, as they did not appear to be paired. These bays and along the coast near St. Samson were the only places in Guernsey itself that I saw the Terns; there were some also about Herm, but we could not find any nests there; but Mr. Howard Saunders and myself found a few pairs breeding on one of the rocky islands to the north of Herm; when we visited them on the 27th June, 1878, we only found four nests, two with two eggs each and two with only one egg each. Probably these were a second laying, the nests having been robbed, as had everything else on these Islands; there must have been more than four nests there really, as there were several pairs of birds about, but we could not find any other nests; these four were on the hard rocks, with little or no attempt at a real nest. This was the only one of the small rocky islands on which we found Terns breeding, though we searched every one of them that had any land above water at high tide; the others, of course, were useless. I had expected for some time that Common Terns did breed on some of these rocks, as I have an adult female in full breeding-plumage, which had been shot on the 29th June, 1877, near St. Samson's, which is only about three miles from these Islands, and which certainly showed signs of having been sitting; and Mr. Jago, the bird-stuffer, had one in full breeding-plumage, killed at Herm early in June, 1878; but several of the sailors about, and some friends of mine who were in the habit of visiting these islands occasionally, seemed very sceptical on the subject; but Mr. Howard Saunders and I quite settled the question by finding the eggs, and we also thoroughly identified the birds. The Common Tern seemed to be the only species of Tern breeding on the rocks; we certainly saw nothing else, and no Common Terns even, except on the one island on which we found the eggs. The autumnal visitants are mostly young birds of the year, some of them, of course, having been bred on the Islands and others merely wanderers from more distant breeding-stations. No young Terns appeared to have flown when I left the Islands at the end of July; at least, I saw none about, though there were several adults about both Grand Havre and L'Ancresse Bay. The same remark applies to Herm, where my last visit to the shell-beach was on the 22nd of July, when I saw several adult Common Terns about, but no young ones with them; all these were probably birds which had been robbed of one or more clutches of eggs.

Professor Ansted includes the Common Tern in his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the Museum, a young bird of the year.

164. ARCTIC TERN. _Sterna macrura_, Naumann. French, "Hirondelle de mer arctique."[31]--The Arctic Tern is by no means so common in the Islands as the Common Tern, and is, as far as I can make out, only an occasional autumnal visitant, and then young birds of the year most frequently occur, as I have never seen a Guernsey specimen of an adult bird. I do not think it ever visits the Islands during the spring migration; I did not see one about the Vale in the summer of 1878, nor did Mr. Howard Saunders and myself recognise one when we visited the rocks to the north of Herm. It may, however, have occurred more frequently than is supposed, and been mistaken for the Common Tern, so it may be as well to point out the chief distinctions: these are the short tarsus of the Arctic Tern, which only measures 0.55 of an inch, whilst that of the Common Tern measures 0.7 of an inch; and the dark grey next to the shaft on the inner web of the primary quills of the Arctic Tern, which is much narrower than in those of the Common Tern. These two distinctions hold good at all ages and in all states of plumage; as to fully adult birds in breeding plumage there are other distinctions, the tail of the Arctic Tern being much longer in proportion to the wing than in the Common Tern, and the bill being nearly all red instead of tipped with horn-colour.

The Arctic Tern is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no specimen at present in the Museum.

165. BLACK TERN. _Hydrochelidon nigra_, Linnaeus. French, "Guifette noire," "Hirondelle de mer épouvantail."[32]--The Black Tern is by no means a common visitant to the Islands, and only makes its appearance in the autumn, and then the generality of those that occur are young birds of the year. I have one specimen of a young bird killed at the Vrangue on the 1st October, 1876. It does not seem to occur at all on the spring migration; at least I have never heard of or seen a Channel Island specimen killed at that time of year. As this is a marsh-breeding Tern, it is not at all to be wondered at that it does not, at all events at present, remain to breed in the Islands, there being so few places suited to it, though it is possible that before the Braye du Valle was drained, and large salt marshes were in existence in that part of the Island, the Black Tern may have bred there. I can, however, find no direct evidence of its having done so, and therefore can look upon it as nothing but an occasional autumnal straggler.

The Black Tern is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no specimen in the Museum. These are all the Terns I have been able to prove as having occurred in the Channel Islands, though it seems to me highly probable that others occur--as the Sandwich Tern, the Lesser Tern, and the Roseate Tern (especially if, as I have heard stated, it breeds in small numbers off the coast of Brittany). Professor Ansted includes the Lesser Tern in his list, but that may have been a mistake, as my skin of a young Black Tern was sent to me for a Lesser Tern.

166. KITTIWAKE. _Rissa tridactyla_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouette tridactyle."--The Kittiwake is a regular and numerous autumn and winter visitant to all the Islands, sometimes remaining till late in the spring, which misled me when I made the statement in the 'Zoologist' for 1866 that it did breed in the Channel Islands; subsequent experience, however, has convinced me that the Kittiwake does not breed in any of the Islands. Captain Hubback, however, informed me that a few were breeding on the rocks to the south of Alderney in 1878, but when Mr. Howard Saunders and I went with him to the spot on the 25th June, we found no Kittiwakes there, all those Captain Hubback had previously seen having probably departed to their breeding-stations before our visit, and after they had been seen by him some time in May. Professor Ansted includes the Kittiwake in his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum, an adult bird and a young one in that state of plumage in which it is the Tarrock of Bewick and some of the older authors.