ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM DEVON AND CORNWALL.
By John Gatcombe.
On the 10th September the harbour was full of young and old Herring Gulls with many Black-headed Gulls amongst them, the latter having lately arrived from their breeding stations. Three Curlew Sandpipers that were killed from a flock of about fifty were sent up from the neighbourhood of Wadebridge, Cornwall, about the same time. They were young birds of the year, with a rather strong tinge of buff pervading the under plumage. I once saw a compact flock, consisting of more than a hundred, flying across the mud-banks of the River Lynher, near St. Germains, the species being easily distinguished by the white upper tail-coverts. Very small parlies or single birds are, however, more generally met with, either alone or in company with Dunlins and Ring Plovers. Some young Knots and Common Redshanks were also shot about the same time in our estuaries. Wheatears were then plentiful on the coast.
Visiting Northmoor, Somerset, during September, I found the Common Bunting rather numerous in that neighbourhood, quite a flock of them roosting nightly in a thick row of pollard willow trees skirting a "drove" in the centre of the moor. Indeed I do not think I ever observed what may be called a "flock" of the Common Bunting before.
On the 4th October ] am almost certain that I saw amongst a party of Long-tailed Tits one with a white head,—a variety, I believe, not uncommon in some parts of the Continent,—and a kw years since, strange to say, I remarked another in the same locality, which was duly recorded at the time in 'The Zoologist' (1872, p. 2943). Bewick mentions that there was a variety of the kind in the Wycliffe Museum.
The last Swallows were seen by me on October 15th, the day after the great gale, and on the 16th a single Martin was observed hawking about during a hail-storm. A white Swallow was seen in September. Swifts left the neighbourhood of Plymouth very early this season, and Swallows were by no means plentiful, which has been the case for the last few years. Swifts are decidedly on the increase.
