I do not know that there is any evidence of the Crossbill ever having bred in the Islands, though it seems to have made its appearance there at almost all times of year.  Mr. MacCulloch mentions its feeding on the apple-pips, and doing damage in the orchards accordingly, and I know it is generally supposed to do so, and has in some places got the name of “Shell Apple” in consequence, but though I have several times kept Crossbills tame, and frequently tried to indulge them with apples and pips, I have never found them care much about them; and a note of Professor Newton’s, in his edition of ‘Yarrell,’ seems to agree with this.  He says:—­“Of late it has not been often observed feeding on apples, very possibly owing to the greatly-increased growth of firs, and especially larches, throughout the country.  In Germany it does not seem ever to have been known as attacking fruit-trees.”

The Crossbill is included in Professor Ansted’s list, and only marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.  There is no specimen in the Museum.

73.  COMMON STARLING. Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus.  French, “Etourneau vulgaire.”—­The Starling is sometimes very numerous 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