the entrance of the River Yealm, where some two or three hundred Herring Gulls were assembled at their annual breeding place, but I could not distinguish any nests, although from the actions of the birds I feel sure there must have been many. A solitary adult Blackheaded Gull was observed off the Plymouth Hoe during a severe gale on the 17th, long after the rest had left for their breeding stations. On the 25th I walked to Whitsand Bay, on the Cornish coast, where I observed a Common Sandpiper—the first I had seen this year—and five Scoters. Several Swallows came in direct from the sea, and many were afterwards observed along the coast: weather bright, but the wind blowing hard from the south-east.
Again visited the gulls at Wembury on April 28th, and then observed several nests, some of which contained eggs. A pair of Peregrines had a nest in the same locality, and the male kept flying swiftly round, making a great noise. I was sorry to see a number of boys searching for nests amongst the cliffs: they had collected upwards of forty eggs of the Jackdaw and one of the Herring Gull. The Peregrines are also occasionally robbed of their eggs and young. Some years ago a shipwright's lad took three young ones from a nest at Wembury, one of which I purchased and kept alive for a long time; and afterwards, hearing that he had still another left, I thought I would endeavour to get that also. On calling at the yard in which the young man worked, he told me that he lived on the other side of the water, but that if I would not mind waiting until six o'clock, the time he left work, he would row me across to see the bird. On my asking whether he kept it confined in a cage or in a garden, he replied that it was quite free and flew about wherever it liked, but would come to his call or whistle from any distance within sight or hearing. On landing and walking into the village, my companion began to call and whistle, when suddenly, to my astonishment, I saw the falcon swoop down from the corner of a high building at the end of a street, and alight on his shoulder. I did not purchase it because I found that it had injured and disfigured its bill, the tip of which was completely broken off, from a habit it had of striking at and trying to tear stones thrown to it by the boys of the village. I have often since regretted that I did not buy this docile bird, for possibly the bill might have become right in time.
On the rocks at Wembury I remarked a Cormorant in rather peculiar plumage. The whole of the lower parts, from the chin
