in the autumn, but
those remaining throughout the year and breeding in the Island are
certainly very few in number, as I have never seen the Starling in any
of my summer visits; and Mr. MacCulloch tells me "the Starling may
possibly still breed here, but it certainly is not common in summer. A
century ago it used to nest in the garrets in the heart of the town." As
to its not being common in summer, that quite agrees with my own
experience, but a few certainly do breed in the Island still, or did so
within a very few years, as Miss C.B. Carey had eggs in her collection
taken in the Island in 1873 or 1874, and I have seen eggs in other
Guernsey collections, besides those in the Museum. When I was in
Guernsey in November, 1871, Starlings were certainly unusually
plentiful, even for the autumn, very large flocks making their
appearance in all parts of the Island, and in the evening very large
flocks might be seen flying and wheeling about in all directions before
going to roost. Many of these flocks I saw fly off in the direction of
Jersey and the French coast, and they certainly continued their flight
in that direction as long as I could follow them with my glass, but
whether they were only going to seek a roosting-place and to return in
the morning, or whether they continued their migration and their place
was supplied by other flocks during the night, I could not tell, but
certainly there never seemed to be any diminution in their numbers
during the whole time I was there from the 1st to the 16th of November.
I think it not at all improbable that many of these flocks only roosted
out of the Island and returned, as even here in Somerset they collect in
large flocks before going to roost, and fly long distances, sometimes
quite over the Quantock Hills, to some favourite roosting-place they
have selected, and return in the morning, and the distance would in many
places be nearly as great. These flocks of Starlings seem to have
continued in the Island quite into the winter, as Miss Carey notes, in
the 'Zoologist' for 1872, seeing a flock in the field before the house
at Candie close to the town as late as the 6th of December, 1871. At the
same time that there were so many in Guernsey, Starlings were reported
as unusually numerous in Alderney, but how long the migratory flocks
remained there I have not been able to ascertain.

The Starling is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as only
occurring in Guernsey and