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BY E. WHEELER. 



fTlHE physical aspects of the Bristol district, consisting of open 

 ■*- Downs, well wooded heights and valleys, rivers, streams, and 

 muddy estuaries of the Avon and Severn, afford very favourable 

 haunts for a considerable number of our indigenous birds, and 

 summer and winter visitors. Although not so favoured as the east 

 and soath coast for Continental stragglers, yet at intervals we are 

 visited by some few and attractive species. 



The majority of our birds are of course arboreal. The sea coast 

 with its granite, chalk, or limestone cliffs, the haunts and breeding 

 places of the Colymbidse, Alcadse, and Laridse, is beyond our limits, 

 consequently members of these families form but a small part of 

 our lists. The Steep Holm, in the Bristol Channel, is perhaps 

 the nearest point where the common Sea Gull breeds. In the 

 autumn and winter the banks of the Avon and Severn abdind with 

 them, as well as Black-headed, Herring, occasionally Great and 

 Lesser Black backed Gulls, and Common Tern. 



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