A HISTORY OF CORNWALL fifty years ago the starling, though an abundant winter visitor, was not known to breed in the county. In 1854 a single nest was noticed at Trebartha in the parish of North Hill, and from that time onwards it gradually spread itself all over the county, and now breeds abundantly as far west as Penzance. This year (1905) several nests were found within 2j miles of Land's End. Forty years ago the great green woodpecker during the breeding season did not venture beyond Lostwithiel ; now it is abundant throughout the county, even in the treeless districts of the Lizard and Land's End. Still more recently the greater spotted and the lesser spotted woodpeckers were practically con- fined to the woods along the Tamar and its tributaries. The former has now reached Penzance, and the latter breeds as far west as Falmouth. From 1842, when it was first found nesting near St. Germans, the Dartford warbler gradually spread westward, and by 1880 had become fairly common in the furze-brakes about Land's End. One or two severe winters unfortunately almost completely exterminated it, and for twenty years it seemed to be lost to the county. Lately it has been re-discovered nesting at Penryn and at Linkinhorne, near Callington. The stock-dove and the rock-dove have also in recent years established themselves as residents in the county, and are gradually creeping westward during the breeding season. The former was first noticed nesting at North Hill in 1885, and the latter at Kilmaur in the early seventies. For various reasons the general features of autumn migration in Cornwall are much more pronounced than those of the spring and early summer. From the beginning of August till late in October the migratory activity is at its height. Even in the latter half of July the common sandpiper begins to gather along the coast, and the swift to assemble in favoured localities ; while occasional whimbrel and bunches of passing oyster-catchers put in an appearance. The earliest of the summer migrants to leave our shores is the adult cuckoo. After the middle of July one rarely sees an adult bird, at least in the middle of the county, though young birds are in evidence till October. It appears to collect in some numbers at the Lizard before depar- ture, but for the most part, like many other birds, it slips away unnoticed. During the month of August departing summer guests, like the whitethroat, the willow-wren, the spotted flycatcher, the sand-martin, the swallow and the wheatear leave their nesting quarters and gradually draw together in anticipation of their journey south. By the middle of the month the swift has gone, leaving only a few stragglers behind, and by its close the sand-martin and spotted flycatcher have begun to depart. Among our resident birds, the common sandpiper and oyster-catcher become much more plentiful along the coast ; the dunlin is much in evidence in the estuaries and on mud-flats, and mistle-thrushes, pied wagtails, and goldfinches collect together on congenial gathering grounds. Among the birds of passage the whimbrel is in most years fairly abundant throughout the month ; the sandcrling puts in an appearance at Helford about the third, and becomes gradually common ; the turnstone and the knot appear in the second week, and the white wagtail almost invariably occurs among the early flocks of the pied wagtail. Before the end of the month the black-headed gull usually descends on our shores in considerable numbers, and solitary specimens of another winter visitor, the redshank, are generally reported from the south coast. 310
