Birds of Guernsey Part 11

171. BROWN-HEADED GULL. _Larus ridibundus_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouette rieuse."[36] This pretty little Gull is a common autumn and winter visitant to all the Islands, remaining on to the spring, but never breeding in any of them, though a few young and non-breeding birds may be seen about at all times of the summer, especially about the harbour.

Being a marsh-breeding Gull, and selecting low marshy islands situated for the most part in inland fresh-water lakes and large pieces of water, it is not to be wondered at that it does not breed in the Channel Islands, where there are no places either suited to its requirements or where it could find a sufficient supply of its customary food during the breeding-season. Very soon after they have left their breeding-stations, however, both old and young birds may be seen about the harbours and bays of Guernsey and the other islands seeking for food, in which matter they are not very particular, picking up any floating rubbish or nastiness they may find in the harbour. The generality of specimens occurring in the Channel Islands are in either winter or immature plumage, very few having a.s.sumed the dark-coloured head which marks the breeding plumage. This dark colour of the head, which is sometimes a.s.sumed as early as the end of February, comes on very rapidly, not being the effect of moult, but of a change of colour in the feathers themselves, the dark colouring-matter gradually spreading over each feather and supplanting the white of the winter plumage; a few new feathers are also grown at this time to replace any that have been accidentally shed--these come in the dark colour. The young birds in their first feathers are nearly brown, but the grey feathers make their appearance amongst the brown ones at an earlier stage than in most other gulls. The primary quills, which are white in the centre with a margin of black, vary also a good deal with age, the black margins growing narrower and the white in places extending through the black margin to the edge, so that in adult birds the black margins are not so complete as in younger examples.

Professor Ansted mentions the Laughing Gull in his list, by which I presume he means the present species, and marks it as only occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum. As it is just possible that the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull, _Larus melanocephalus_, may occur in the Islands,--as it does so in France as far as Bordeaux, and has once certainly extended its wanderings as far as the British Islands,--it may be worth while to point out the princ.i.p.al distinctions.

In the adult bird the head of _L. melanocephalus_ in the breeding-season is black, not brown as in _L. ridibundus_, and the first three primaries are white with the exception of a narrow streak of black on the outer web of the first, and not white with a black margin as in _L.

ridibundus_. In younger birds, however, the primaries are a little more alike, but the first primary of _L. melanocephalus_ is black or nearly so; in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first three primaries of _L. melanocephalus_ and _L. ridibundus_, both being from birds of the year shot about March, in his paper on the _Larinae_, published in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year 1878.

172. LITTLE GULL. _Larus minutus_, Pallas. French, "Mouette pygmee."--I have never met with this bird myself in the Channel Islands, nor have I seen a Channel Island specimen, but Mr. Harvie Brown, writing to the 'Zoologist' from St. Peter's Port, Guernsey, under date January 25th, says, "In the bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh, which had been shot a few days ago."[37] Mr. Harvie Brown does not give us any more information on the subject, and does not even say whether the bird was a young bird or an adult in winter plumage; but probably it was a young bird of the year in that sort of young Kittiwake or Tarrock plumage in which it occasionally occurs on the south coast of Devon.

Professor Ansted does not include the Little Gull in his list, and there is no specimen in the Museum.

173. GREAT SHEARWATER. _Puffinus major_, Faber. French, "Puffin majeur."[38]--I think I may fairly include the Great Shearwater in my list as an occasional wanderer to the Islands, as, although I have not a Channel Island specimen, nor have I seen it near the sh.o.r.e or in any of the bays, I did see a small flock of four or five of these birds in July, 1866, when crossing from Guernsey to Torquay. We were certainly more than the Admiralty three miles from the land; but had scarcely lost sight of Guernsey, and were well within sight of the Caskets, when we fell in with the Shearwaters. They accompanied the steamer for some little way, at times flying close up, and I had an excellent opportunity of watching them both with and without my gla.s.s, and have therefore no doubt of the species. There was a heavyish sea at the time, and the Shearwaters were generally flying under the lee of the waves, just rising sufficiently to avoid the crest of the wave when it broke. They flew with the greatest possible ease, and seemed as if no sea or gale of wind would hurt them; they never got touched by the breaking sea, but just as it appeared curling over them they rose out of danger and skimmed over the crest; they never whilst I was watching them actually settled on the water, though now and then they dropped their legs just touching the water with their feet.

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

174. MANX SHEARWATER. _Puffinus anglorum_, Temminck. French, "Petrel Manks."--The Manx Shearwater can only be considered as an occasional wanderer to the Channel Islands, and never by any means so common as it is sometimes on the opposite side of the Channel about Torbay, especially in the early autumn. I have one Guernsey specimen, however, killed near St. Samson's on the 28th September, 1876.[39] As far as I can make out the Manx Shearwater does not breed in any part of the Channel Islands, but being rather of nocturnal habits at its breeding-stations, and remaining in the holes and under the rocks where its eggs are during the day, it may not have been seen during the breeding-season; but did it breed anywhere in the Islands more birds, both old and young, would be seen about in the early autumn when the young first begin to leave their nests; and the Barbelotters would occasionally come across eggs and young birds when digging for Puffins'

eggs.

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

175. FULMAR PETREL. _Fulmarus glacialis_, Linnaeus. French, "Petrel fulmar."--The Fulmar Petrel, wandering bird as it is, especially during the autumn, at which time of year it has occurred in all the western counties of England, very seldom finds its way to the Channel Islands, as the only occurrence of which I am aware is one which I picked up dead on the sh.o.r.e in Cobo Bay on the 14th of November, 1875, after a very heavy gale. In very bad weather, and after long-continued gales, this bird seems to be occasionally driven ash.o.r.e, either owing to starvation or from getting caught in the crest of a wave when trying to hover close over it, after the manner of a Shearwater, as this is the second I have picked up under nearly the same circ.u.mstances, the first being in November, 1866, when I found one not quite dead on the sh.o.r.e near Dawlish, in South Devon. It must be very seldom, however, that the Fulmar visits the Channel Islands, as neither Mr. Couch nor Mrs. Jago had ever had one through their hands, and Mr. MacCulloch has never heard of a Channel Island specimen occurring.

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

176. STORM PETREL. _Thala.s.sidroma pelagica_ Linnaeus. French, "Thala.s.sidrome tempete."--Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks published with Professor Ansted's list, says, "The Storm Petrel breeds in large numbers in Burhou, a few on the other rocks near Alderney, and occasionally on the rocks near Herm; these are the only places where they breed, although seen and occasionally killed in all the Islands." I can add to these places mentioned by Mr. Gallienne the little island, frequently mentioned before, near Sark, Le Tas, where Mr. Howard Saunders found several breeding on the 24th June, 1878. I could not accompany him on this expedition, so he alone has the honour of adding Le Tas to the breeding-places of the Storm Petrel in the Channel Islands, and he very kindly gave me the two eggs which he took on that occasion. When I visited Burhou in June, 1876, I was unsuccessful in finding more than part of a broken egg and a wing of a dead bird. But Colonel L'Estrange, who had been there about a fortnight before, found two addled eggs, but saw no birds. I thought at the time that I had been too late and the birds had departed, but this does not seem to have been the case, as Captain Hubback wrote to me in July of this year (1878), and said, "Do you not think that perhaps you were early on the 14th of June? Of the six eggs I took on the 2nd of July this year, two were quite fresh, three hard-sat, and one deserted." I have no doubt he was right, as the wing of the dead bird I found was, no doubt, that of one that had come to grief the year before, and the egg was one which had been sat on and hatched, and might therefore have been one of the previous year; and the same, possibly, might have been the case with Col. L'Estrange's two addled eggs. It appears, however, to be rather irregular in its breeding habits, nesting from the end of May to July or August. In Burhou the Storm Petrel bred mostly in holes in the soft black mould, which was also partly occupied by Puffins and Babbits, but occasionally under large stones and rocks. We did not find any breeding on the islands to the north of Herm, but they may do so occasionally, in which case their eggs would probably be mostly placed under large rocks and stones, where the Puffins find safety from the attacks of the various egg-stealers. At other times of year than the breeding-season, the Storm Petrel can only be considered an occasional storm-driven visitant to the Islands.

It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Alderney, Sark, Jethou, and Herm.

With this bird ends my list of the Birds of Guernsey and the neighbouring Islands. It contains notices of only 176 birds, 21 less than Professor Ansted's list, which contains 197; but it seems to me very doubtful whether many of these 21 species have occurred in the Islands. I can find no other evidence of their having done so than the mere mention of the names in that list, as, except the few mentioned in Mr. Gallienne's notes, no evidence whatever is given of the when and where of their occurrence; and we are not even told who was responsible for the identification of any of the birds mentioned. I have no doubt, however, that any one resident in the Islands for some years, and taking an interest in the ornithology of the district, would be able to add considerably to my list, as Miss C.B. Carey, had she lived, would no doubt have enabled me to do. I think it very probable, mine having been only flying visits, though extending over several years and at various times of year, I may have omitted some birds, especially amongst the smaller Warblers and the Pipits, and perhaps amongst the occasional Waders. There is one small family--the Skuas--entirely unrepresented in my list; I am rather surprised at this as some of them, especially the Pomatorhine--or, as it is perhaps better known, the Pomerine--Skua, _Stercorarius pomatorhinus_, and Richardson's Skua, _Stercorarius crepidatus_, are by no means uncommon on the other side of the Channel, about Torbay, during the autumnal migration; but I have never seen either species in the Island, nor have I seen a Channel Island skin, nor can I find that either the bird-stuffers or the fishermen and the various shooters know anything about them. I have therefore, though I think it by no means; unlikely that both birds occasionally occur, thought it better to omit their names from my list.

Professor Ansted has only mentioned one of the family--the Great Skua, _Stercorarius catarrhactes_,--in his list, which also may occasionally occur, as may Buffon's Skua, _Stercorarius parasiticus_; but neither of these seem to me so likely to occur as the two first-mentioned, not being by any means so common on the English side of the Channel.

In bringing my labours to a conclusion I must again thank Mr. MacCulloch and others, who have a.s.sisted me in my work either by notes or by helping in out-door work.