in the museum, and also whether it is included in Professor Ansted's
list, and if so in which of the Islands he has marked it as occurring.

No doubt the Ornithology of the Channel Islands, as is the case in many
counties of England, has been considerably changed by drainage works,
improved cultivation, and road-making; much alteration of this sort I
can see has taken place during the thirty years which I have known the
Islands as an occasional visitor. But Mr. MacCulloch, who has been
resident in the Islands for a much longer period--in fact, he has told
me nearly double--has very kindly supplied me with the following very
interesting note on the various changes which have taken place in
Guernsey during the long period he has lived in that island; he says, "I
can well recollect the cutting of most of the main roads, and the
improvement, still going on, of the smaller ones. It was about the
beginning of this century that the works for reclaiming the Braye du
Valle were undertaken; before that time the Clos du Valle[2] was
separated from the mainland by an arm of the sea, left dry at low water,
extending from St. Samson's to the Vale Church. This was bordered by
salt marshes only, covered occasionally at spring tides by the sea, some
of which extended pretty far inland. The meadows adjoining were very
imperfectly drained, as indeed some still are, and covered with reeds
and rushes, forming excellent shelter for many species of aquatic birds.
Now, as you know, by far the greater part of the land is well cultivated
and thickly covered with habitations. The old roads were everywhere
enclosed between high hedges, on which were planted rows of elms; and
the same kind of hedge divided the fields and tenements. Every house,
too, in those days had its orchard, cider being then universally drunk;
and the hill-sides and cliffs were covered with furze brakes, as in all
country houses they baked their own bread and required the furze for
fuel. Now all that is changed. The meadows are drained and planted with