Bird Notes and News 



99 



Willow-Warblers' nests were all in actual 

 holes in mossy, overgrown banks, while 

 the ChiffchafiPs' were well above the ground, 

 one seven feet up in a clump of bamboo. 

 Spotted Flycatchers are plentiful ; they 

 build their nests curiously high, one of 

 those which I found being quite 30 feet up ! 

 Blue Tits and Wrens and Golden-crested 

 Wrens are very scarce this year, owing, 

 no doubt, to the hard winter. 



This spot is a great place for Nightjars. 

 Some scores of pairs breed here annually ; 

 they lay their eggs on the rubble thrown 

 up man}^ years ago from the mines. Heather 

 has grown up in places and the Nightjars 

 are to be found among it. It is a very 

 beautiful sight to see the parent birds in 

 the gloaming, hovering and turning after 

 the flying insects and moths which are 

 their food ; and on the wing to hear them 

 utter their strange note, locally known as 

 " ribbling," and to hear them clap their 

 wings. They have another sharp alarm-cry, 

 a harsh " kek," not unlike a Kestrel's cry. 

 In the old engine-houses of the mines Owls, 

 Kestrels, and Jackdaws have their nests. 



The sea-shore provides many interesting 

 sights for the bird-lover. As late as April 

 23rd I noticed a pair of Red-breasted 

 Mergansers in the bay, and on the sand- 

 dunes Ringed Plover were nesting and the 

 Curlew stayed as late as May 21st, when 

 I saw them trekking off across the sky to the 

 moors inland : likewise the Dunlin ; their 

 numbers slowly diminished until they were 

 limited to some five non-breeders. These 

 five I made friends with, and they allowed 

 me to come within two yards of them or 

 less. Perhaps they share the confidence in 

 man which the Dotterel displays. In my 

 case I trust the confidence was merited : 

 may it be an object lesson to teach those 

 who must needs shoot, to " observe " ! In 

 winter these dunes are visited by numbers 

 of our winter visitors, Curlew and Dunlin, 

 God wits and Curlew-Sandpipers, one or two 

 Grey Phalarope in autumn, and occasionally 

 the Little Stint : in addition to several 

 varieties of Duck. But after all, no season 

 can beat the Spring. 



Devon was equally lovely : the weather 

 was at its best and hottest, 82° being 

 registered in the shade early in ^lay. Where 



I was, the sand-dunes and salt-marshes 

 stretch for some eight miles. No doubt 

 both Dunlin and Curlew had nests, but I 

 never found them. There were one or two 

 Water-Rails, but even the Land-Rail is 

 not really plentiful as in some other parts, 

 such as Ireland. Warblers were very com- 

 mon : some forty of A. schoenobcenus being 

 counted in one afternoon : Grasshopper- 

 Warblers there were one or two, but 

 the Reed-Warbler I never saw, though I 

 fancied I could distinguish its note more 

 than once. It was a land of Cuckoos too ; 

 eleven or twelve a day was no record 

 observation. Stonechats, Whinchats.Wheat- 

 ears and both species of Whitethroat were to 

 be found on the waste land and an occasional 

 Yellow Wagtail, while along the streams 

 flitted Dippers, Grey Wagtails, and one or 

 two Sandpipers. The latter were unusually 

 tame and I made quite an acquaintance 

 with them when fishing for trout in these 

 rough Devon streams that reminded one 

 so of the " burns " o' " Bonnie Scotland." 



Along the cliffs three pairs of Buzzards 

 were nesting, and before I left one had eggs. 

 A Raven's nest was there too, standing some 

 4 feet high in a cleft : this, however, was 

 robbed of its five eggs ! The delinquent 

 was dealt with and the eggs forfeited. I saw 

 the site of a Peregrine eyrie, but the birds 

 were not about : the Herring and Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull both nest on these cliffs, 

 as also the Guillemot. Black-headed Gulls 

 breed on the marshes, but I was a little too 

 early, though I saw about twenty last 

 5'ear's nests. 



The great feature of this locality is the 

 Duck which come to breed. An old tenant 

 farmer who rents the shooting of the sand 

 dunes told me that at least two hundred pair 

 of Sheldrake come to breed there every year, 

 and that as many as four hundred pair have 

 been known to arrive. Such a statement may 

 be slightly exaggerated, but on the whole I 

 should think not very much. I myself saw 

 sixty-four Sheldrake when out for a walk on 

 the dunes, at a season when the female birds 

 were probably sitting in the burrows. Wild 

 Duck, Teal, and Shoveller all nest in moderate 

 numbers, but I was surprised not to see any 

 Pochard. Truly a paradise for the bird- 

 lover ! 



