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 shore 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 ashore, 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 circumstances, the first being in November, 1866, when I found one not quite dead on the shore 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. Thalassidroma pelagica Linnaeus. French, "Thalassidrome tempête."—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 assisted me in my work either by notes or by helping in out-door work.
FINIS.