Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, although it seems tolerably well known, and has a local name “D’mouaiselle,” which Mr. Metivier, in his ‘Dictionary,’ applies to the Willow Wren of the English.  This name, however, is probably equally applicable to the Chiffchaff.

42.  CHIFFCHAFF. Phylloscopus collybita, Vieillot.  French, “Bee-fin veloce.”—­The Chiffchaff is certainly more common in Guernsey than the Willow Wren.  In Guernsey I have seen it in several places; about Candie, where a pair had a nest this summer in the mowing-grass before the house; near the Vallon; and about St. George.  I have also seen it in Sark, but not in either of the other Islands, though no doubt it occurs in Herm, if not in Alderney.

It is mentioned by Professor Ansted as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.  I have never seen the Wood Wren in Guernsey, and, judging from its 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.

The Golden-crested Wren is mentioned by Professor Ansted, and marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.  There are two—­a male and female—­in the Museum.