ng 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