It has often struck me that a small but rigidly collected and enforced gun-tax would be a more efficacious protection—­not only to the oiseaux de mer, but also to the inland birds, many of which are quite as much in want of protection though not included in the Act—­than the Sea-bird Protection Act is.  I am glad to see that there is some chance of this being carried out, for, while this work was going through the press, I see by the newspaper (’Gazette Officielle de Guernsey’ for the 26th March, 1879) that the Bailiff had then just issued a Billet d’Etat which contained a “Projet de loi” on the subject, to be submitted to the States at their next meeting; and in concluding its comments on this Projet de loi the Gazette says, “Il n’est que juste en fait que ceux qui veulent se lier au plaisir de la chasse paient pour cette fantaisie et que par ce moyen le trop grand nombre de nos chasseurs maladroits et inexperimentes se voit reduit au grand avantage de nos fermiers et de nos promeneurs;” and probably also to the advantage of the chasseurs themselves.

In regard to the nomenclature, I have done the best I can to follow the rule laid down by the British Association; but not living in London, and consequently not having access to a sufficiently large ornithological library to enable me to search out the various synonyms for myself and ascertain the exact dates, I have therefore been obliged to rely on the best authorities whose works I possess, and accept the name given by them.  In doing this, I have no doubt I have been quite as correct as I should have been had I waded through the various authors who have written on the subject, as I have invariably accepted the name adopted by Professor Newton in his edition of Yarrell, and by Mr. Dresser in his ‘Birds of Europe’, as far as these works are yet complete:  for the birds not yet included in either I have for the most part taken the scientific names from Mr. Howard Saunders’s ’Catalogue des oiseaux du midi de L’Espagne,’ published in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Societe Zoologique de France; and for the names of the Gulls and Terns I have entirely followed Mr. Howard Saunders’s papers on those birds published in the ‘Proceedings’ of our own Zoological Society, for permission to use which, and for other assistance,—­especially in egg-hunting,—­I have to give him my best thanks.

As French is so much spoken in Guernsey and the other Islands included in my district, I have (wherever I have been able to ascertain it) given the French name of each bird, as it may be better known to my Guernsey readers than either the English or the scientific name.  I have also, where there is one and I have been able to ascertain it, mentioned the local name in the course of my notes on each bird.

It now only remains to give my best thanks to the various friends who have assisted me, especially to Mr. MacCulloch, who, though he says he is no naturalist, has supplied me with various very interesting notes, which he has taken from time to time of ornithological events which have occurred in Guernsey, and from which I have drawn rather largely; and I have, also, again to thank him for the interesting accounts he has given me of the various changes—­agricultural and otherwise—­which have taken place during his memory, and which may have had some effect on the ornithology of the Islands, especially of Guernsey.