ench, "Martin
Pecheur."--The Kingfisher is by no means uncommon, is generally spread
over the Islands, and is resident and breeds at all events in Guernsey,
if not in the other Islands also. It is generally to be seen amongst the
wild rocks which surround L'Ancresse Common, where it feeds on the small
fish left in the clear pools formed amongst the rocks by the receding
tide; it is also by no means uncommon amongst the more sheltered bays in
the high rocky part of the Island; it is also to be found about the
small ponds in various gardens. About those in Candie Garden I have
frequently seen Kingfishers, and they breed about the large ponds in the
Vale in Mr. De Putron's grounds; they also occasionally visit the wild
rocky islets to the northward of Herm, even as far as the Amfrocques,
the farthest out of the lot. As well as about the Vale ponds, the
Kingfisher breeds in holes in the rocks all round the Island. I have not
myself seen it in Alderney, but Captain Hubbach writes me word he saw
one there about Christmas, 1862. I think its numbers are slightly
increased in the autumn by migrants, as I have certainly seen more
specimens in Mr. Couch's shop at that time of year than at any other;
this may perhaps, however, be accounted for, at all events partially, by
its being protected by the Sea Bird Act during the summer and in early
autumn, where the 'Martin pecheur' appears as one of the "Oiseaux de
Mer."

It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and only marked as occurring
in Guernsey and Sark. There are three specimens now in the Museum.

86. NIGHTJAR. _Caprimulgus enropaeus_, Linnaeus. French, "Engoulevent
ordinaire."--The Nightjar is a regular autumnal visitant, a few perhaps
arriving in the spring and remaining to breed, but by far the greater
number only making their appearance on their southward migration in the
autumn. The Nightjar occasionally remains very late in the Islands, as
Miss Carey records one in the 'Zoologist' for 1872 as occurring on the
16th of October; and I have one killed as late as the 12th of November:
this bird had its stomach crammed with black beetles, not our common
domestic nuisances, but small winged black beetles: these dates are
later than the Nightjar usually remains in England, though Yarrell
notices one in Devon as late as the 6th of November, and one in Cornwall
on the 27th of November. Colonel Irby, on the faith of Fabier, says the
Nightjars cross the Straits of Gibraltar on t