favourite habitations here in Somerset, I should not think it at all
likely to remain in the Channel Islands through the summer, though an
occasional straggler may touch the Islands on migration. There is no
specimen of either the Chiffchaff or Willow Wren in the Museum.


43. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. _Regulus cristatus_, Koch. French, "Roitelet
ordinaire."--The Golden-crest is resident in the Islands, but not very
numerous, and I doubt if its numbers are regularly increased in the
autumn by migrants, as is the case in the Eastern Counties of England.
Migratory flocks, however, sometimes make their appearance; and Mr.
MacCulloch writes to me--"The Golden-crest occasionally comes over in
large flocks, apparently from Normandy, flying before bad weather. This,
however, cannot be said to have been the cause of the large flight that
appeared here so recently as the last days in April," 1878. This flock
was mentioned in the 'Star' of April the 27th as follows:--"A countryman
informs us that a few days since, whilst he was at L'ancresse Common, he
saw several flocks of these smallest of British birds, numbering many
hundreds in each, settle in different parts of the Common before
dispersing over the Island. In verification of his words he showed us
two or three of these tiny songsters which he had succeeded in knocking
down with a stick." This large migratory flock had entirely disappeared
from L'ancresse Common when we went to live there for two months in May
of the same year; there was not then a Golden Crest to be seen about the
Common. The whole flock had probably resumed their journey together,
none of them having "dispersed over" or remained in the Island, and
certainly, as far as I could judge, the numbers in other parts of the
Island had not increased beyond what was usual and one might ordinarily
expect. I have not been able to learn that the migratory flock above
spoken of extended to any of the other Islands.