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.
167. HERRING GULL. _Larus argentatus_, Gmelin. French, "Goeland
argenté," "Goeland à manteau bleu."--The Herring Gull is very common,
indeed the commonest Gull, and is resident in all the Islands throughout
the year, breeding in nearly all of them in such places as are suited to
it. In Guernsey it breeds on the high cliffs, from the so-called Gull
Cliff, near Pleinmont, to the Corbiere, the Gouffre, the Moye Point to
Petit Bo in considerable numbers; from Petit Bo Bay to St. Martin's
Point much more sparingly. In Sark it breeds in considerable numbers; on
Little Sark on both sides of the Coupée, and on nearly all the west
side; that towards Guernsey, especially about Harbour Goslin, a place
called the Moye de Moutton near there, which is a most excellent place
for watching the breeding operations of this Gull as well as of the
Shags, as with a moderate climb on the rocks one can easily look into
several nests and see what both old and young are about. On the island
close to Sark, called Isle de Merchant, or Brechou, especially on the
steep rocky side nearest to Sark; a great many also breed on and about
the Autelets: in fact, almost all the grandest and wildest scenery in
Sark has been appropriated by the Herring Gulls for their
breeding-places, who, except for the Shags, hold almost undisputed
possession of the grandest part of the Island. On the east side, or that
towards France, few or no Herring Gulls breed; the cliffs being more
sloping, and covered with grass and gorse, and heather, are not at all
suited for breeding purposes for the Herring Gull. A few pairs have
lately set up a small breeding-station on the rock before mentioned near
Jethou, as La Fauconnière; a very few also breed on Herm on the south
part nearest to Jethou, but none that we could see on the rocks to the
north of Herm. A great many breed also in Alderney on the south and east
sides, but none on the little island of Burhou, which has been entirely
appropriated by the Lesser Black-backs; in all these places the Herring
Gulls and Shags take almost entire possession of the rocks, the Lesser
Black-backs apparently never mixing with them; indeed, except a chance
straggler or two passing by, a Lesser Black-back is scarcely to be seen
at any of these stations. The Herring Gull and the Lesser Black-back,
though very distinct in their adult plumage, and even before they fully
arrive at maturity, as soon as they begin to show the different colour
of the mantle, which they do in their second autumn, when a few of
either the dark or the pale grey feathers appear amongst the brownish
ones of the young bird, are before this change begins very much alike.
In the down I think they are almost, if not quite, indistinguishable
after that in their first feathers, and up to their first winter they
appear to me distinguishable. As far as the primary quills go I do not
see much difference; the shafts, perhaps, of the quills of the Lesser
Black-back are darker than those of the Herring, but the difference if
anything is very slight; but the head and neck and the centres of the
feathers of the back of the Lesser Black-back are darker,--more of a
dark smoky brown than those of the Herring Gull: this difference of
colour is even more apparent on the under surface, including the breast,
belly, and flanks. The shoulder of the wing and the under wing-coverts
of the Lesser Black-back are much darker, nearly dull sooty black, and
much less margined and marked with pale whitey brown than those of the
Herring Gull. The dark bands on the end of the tail-feathers of the
Lesser Black-back are broader and darker than in the Herring Gull: this
seems especially apparent on the two outer tail-feathers on each side;
besides this, there is a slight difference in the colour of the legs,
those of the Lesser Black-back showing a slight indication of the yellow
of maturity. I have noted these distinctions both from living specimens
of both species which I have kept, and noted their various changes from
time to time, and from skins of both: unfortunately the two skins of the
youngest birds I have are not quite of the same age, one being that of a
young Herring Gull, killed at the Needles in August,--the other a young
Lesser Black-back, killed in Guernsey in December; but I do not think
that this difference of time from August to December, the birds being of
the same year, makes much difference in the colour of the feathers; at
least this is my experience of live birds: it is not till the next moult
that more material distinctions begin to appear; after that there can be
no doubt as to the species. Two young Herring Gulls which I have, and
which I saw in the flesh at Couch's shop just after they had been shot,
seem to me worthy of some notice as showing the gradual change of
plumage in the Herring Gull; they were shot on the same day, and appear
to me to be one exactly a year older than the other; they were killed in
November, when both had clean moulted, and show examples of the second
and third moult. No. 1, the oldest, has the back nearly uniform grey,
and the rump and upper tail-coverts white, as in the adult. In No. 2,
the younger one, the grey feathers on the back were much mixed with the
brownish feathers of the young bird, and there are no absolutely white
feathers on the rump and tail-coverts, all of them being more or less
marked with brown. The tail in No. 2 has the brown on it collected in
large and nearly confluent blotches, whilst that of No. 1 is merely
freckled with brown. But perhaps the greatest difference is in the
primary quills; the first four primaries, however, are much alike, those
of No. 1, being a little darker and more distinctly coloured; in both
they are nearly of a uniform colour, only being slightly mottled on the
inner web towards the base; there is no white tip to either. In No. 1
the fifth primary has a distinct white tip; the sixth also has a decided
white tip, and is much whiter towards the base, the difference being
quite as perceptible on the outer as on the inner web. The seventh has a
small spot of brown towards the tip on the outer web, the rest of the
feather being almost uniform pale grey, with a slightly darker shade on
the outer web, and white at the tip; the eighth grey, with a broad
white tip. In No. 2 the fifth primary has no white tip; the sixth also
has no white tip, and not so much white towards the base; the seventh is
all brown, slightly mottled towards the base, and only a very slight
indication of a white tip; and the eighth is mottled throughout. I think
it worth while to mention these two birds, as I have their exact dates,
and the difference of a year between them agrees exactly with young
birds which I have taken in their first feathers and brought up tame. I
may also add, with regard to change of plumage owing to age, that very
old birds do not appear to get their heads so much streaked with brown
in the winter as younger though still adult birds, as a pair which I
caught in Sark when only flappers, and brought home in July, 1866, had
few or no brown streaks about their heads in the winter of 1877-8, and
in the winter of 1878-9 their heads are almost as white as in the
breeding-season. These birds had their first brood in 1873, and have
bred regularly every year since that time, and certainly have
considerably more white on their primary quills than when they first
assumed adult plumage and began to breed. Probably this increase of
white on the primaries as age increases, even after the
full-breeding-plumage is assumed, is always the case in the Herring
Gull, and also in both the Lesser and Greater Black-backs, thus
distinguishing very old birds from those which, though adult, have only
recently assumed the breeding-plumage. I know Mr. Howard Saunders is of
this opinion, certainly as far as Herring Gulls are concerned. Besides
the live ones, two skins I have, both of adult birds, as far as
breeding-plumage only is concerned, are evidently considerably older
than the other. No. 1, the youngest of these,--shot in Guernsey in
August, when just assuming winter plumage, the head being much streaked,
even then, with brown, showing that though adult it was not a very old
bird,--has the usual white tip on the first primary, below which the
whole feather is black on both webs, and below that a white spot on both
webs, for an inch; the white, however, much encroached upon on the outer
part of the outer web by a margin of black. In No. 2, probably the older
bird, the first primary has the white tip and the white spot running
into each other, thus making the tip of the feather for nearly two
inches white, with only a slight patch of black on the outer web. On the
second primary of No. 1 the white tip is present, but no white spot; but
on the same feather of No. 2 there is a white spot on the inner web,
about an inch from the white tip; this would, probably, in a still older
bird, become confluent with the white tip, as in the first primary. I
have not, however, a sufficiently old bird to follow out this for
certain. In No. 1, the older bird, the pale grey on the lower part of
the feathers also extends farther towards the tip, thus encroaching on
the black of the primaries from below as well as from above. I think
these examples are sufficient to show that the white does encroach on
the black of the primaries as the bird grows older, till at last, in
very old birds, there would not be much more than a bar of black between
the white tip and the rest of the feather; and this is very much the
case with the tame ones I caught in Sark in 1866, and which are
therefore, now in the winter of 1879, twelve and a half years old; but I
do not believe that at any age the black wholly disappears from the
primaries, leaving them white as in the Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. The
Herring Gull is an extremely voracious bird, eating nearly everything
that comes in its way, and rejecting the indigestible parts as Hawks do.
Mr. Couch, in the 'Zoologist' for 1874, mentions having taken a
Misseltoe Thrush from the throat of one; and I can quite believe it,
supposing it found the Thrush dead or floating half drowned on the
water. I have seen my tame ones catch and kill a nearly full-grown rat,
and bolt it whole; and young ducks, I am sorry to say, disappear down
their throats in no time, down and all. They are also great robbers of
eggs, no sort of egg coming amiss to them; Guillemots' eggs, especially,
they are very fond of; this may probably account for there being no
Guillemots breeding in Guernsey or Sark, and only a very few at
Alderney; in fact, Ortack being the only place in the Channel Islands in
which they do breed in anything like numbers.
Professor Ansted includes the Herring Gull in his list, but only marks
it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two, an old and a young
bird, in the Museum.