curious nests; they were on the smooth rock, but in both cases the birds had collected a number of small stones and made a complete pavement of them, on which they placed their eggs; there was no protection, however, to prevent the eggs from rolling off. Both in Burhou as well as on the Amfroques and other rocks to the north of Herm, the eggs of the Oystercatchers, as well as of the other sea-birds breeding there, had been ruthlessly robbed by fishermen and others, who occasionally visit these wild rocks and carry off everything in the shape of an egg, without paying any respect to the Bird Act, which professes to protect the eggs as well as the birds. Professor Ansted includes the Oystercatcher in his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is an Oystercatcher and also a few of the eggs in the Museum. 110. CURLEW. _Numenins arquata_, Linnaeus. French, "Courlis," "Grand courlis cendré."--A good many Curlews are to be found in the Islands throughout the year, but I do not believe any of them breed there; I have seen them in Guernsey, Jethou, Herm and Alderney, all through the summer, but always in flocks on the mud and seaweed below high-water mark, whenever they can be there, searching for food, and quite as wild and wary as in the winter. I have never seen them paired, or in any place the least likely for them to be breeding. I know Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks to Professor Ansted's list, says, "Although I have never heard of the eggs of either the Curlew or Whimbrel being found, I am satisfied they breed here (I think at Herm), as they stay with us throughout the year." I cannot from my observation agree with this supposition of the Curlew breeding in the Islands; nor can I agree with the statement made by a writer in 'Cassel's Magazine' for June or July, 1878, that he found a young Curlew in the down on one of the Islands near Jethou, probably from the description 'La Fauconnière.' The writer of this paper in 'Cassel's Magazine' was evidently no ornithologist, and must, I think, have mistaken a young Oystercatcher, of which several pairs were breeding there at the time, for a young Curlew; his description of the cry of the old birds as they flew round was much more like that of the Oystercatcher than the Curlew. All of the boatmen also, with whom I have been about at various times, agree that the Curlews do not breed in the Islands, though they are quite aware that they remain throughout the year, and as many of them, in spite of the Guernsey Bird Act, are great robbers of the eggs of the Gulls, Puffins, and Oystercatchers, all of which they know well, they would hardly miss such a fine mouthful as the egg of the Curlew if it was to be found. No doubt the number of Curlews is largely increased in the autumn by migratory visitors, which remain throughout the winter and depart again in the spring: though numerous during autumn and winter, they are very wild and