The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds of Guernsey (1879), by Cecil Smith

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Title: Birds of Guernsey (1879)
And The Neighbouring Islands: Alderney, Sark, Jethou, Herm; Being
A Small Contribution To The Ornitholony Of The Channel Islands

Author: Cecil Smith

Release Date: December 26, 2004 [EBook #14473]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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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. Gaeetke 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 evid