xxiv SLAPTON LEY. 



a splendid specimen of the Bean Goose, which he informed me 

 was one of three which he was fortunate enough to shoot out of a 

 flock of six seen by him on the Ley. 



Amongst uncommon birds, in the same collection were a pair 

 of Shovellers, a female Gadwall, Pintail, Tufted and Golden-eye 

 Ducks, Hoopoe, Green Sandpipers, Grey Phalaropes and an 

 almost pure white variety of the Pied Wagtail. On visiting 

 Stokeleigh House, the shooting box of Sir Lydstone Newman, 

 Bart., (the owner of the Ley) which is situate in a picturesque 

 valley overlooking the English Channel, and about a mile and 

 a quarter distant from the Ley, I was shewn specimens of the 

 Brent Goose, Osprey, Great Northern Diver, Long-eared Owls and 

 several varieties of the Common Pheasant, all of which were shot 

 on the Ley or in its immediate neighbourhood. 



The Coot breeds on the Ley in hundreds and the Moorhen in 

 less numbers. On conversing with an old boatman, who has 

 known and worked on the licy for a great number of years, he 

 informed me that, until within the last two or three years, no 

 Teal were to be seen there in the summer, but in the summer of 

 1888, a pair or two remained to breed, and in the following year 

 several broods of young birds were hatched. He also told me 

 that he had known a pair or two of Wigeon remain on the Ley 

 the whole summer, but this, I should say, would probably be due 

 to the birds having met with an accident wliich would prevent 

 their migrating to the north, where they breed. 



This lake is divided from the sea by a ridge of sand from 

 between two and three hundred yards wide, and over this the 

 coach runs daily from Dartmouth to Kingsbridge. Studded here 

 and there are low bushes of whin and bramble, amongst which 

 numbers of Stonechats and Whinchats nest, the Wheatear breeds 

 on the sands and the Ringed Plover nests on the shore of the sea. 

 Flocks of Gulls may be observed flying backwards and forwards 

 from the sea to the Ley, and the Cormorant may occasionally be 

 seen. The Lower Ley abounds in Pike and affords excellent sport 



