BIRDS OF GUERNSEY AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS ALDERNEY, SARK, JETHOU, HERM; BEING A SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO The Ornitholony of the Channel Islands BY CECIL SMITH, F.Z.S., MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION. LONDON: R.H. PORTER, 6, TENTERDEN STREET, HANOVER SQUARE. 1879. PREFACE. Though perhaps not possessing the interest to the ornithologist which Lundy Island (the only breeding-place of the Gannet in the South-West of England) or the Scilly Islands possess, or being able to produce the long list of birds which the indefatigable Mr. Gäetke has been able to do for his little island, Heligoland, the avifauna of Guernsey and the neighbouring islands is by no means devoid of interest; and as little has hitherto been published about the Birds of Guernsey and the neighbouring islands, except in a few occasional papers published by Miss C.B. Carey, Mr. Harvie Browne, myself, and a few others, in the pages of the 'Zoologist,' I make no excuse for publishing this list of the birds, which, as an occasional visitor to the Channel Islands for now some thirty years, have in some way been brought to my notice as occurring in these Islands either as residents, migrants, or occasional visitants. Channel Island specimens of several of the rarer birds mentioned, as well as of the commoner ones, are in my own collection; and others I have seen either in the flesh or only recently skinned in the bird-stuffers' shops. For a few, of course, I have been obliged to rely on the evidence of others; some of these may appear, perhaps, rather questionable,--as, for instance, the Osprey,--but I have always given what evidence I have been able to collect in each case; and where evidence of the occurrence was altogether wanting, I have thought it better to omit all mention of the bird, though its occasional occurrence may seem possible.