xiv INTRODUCTION. 



which has been a very considerable addition to our knowledge in 

 that branch of Natural History." 



1830-1837. Dr. Moore of Plymouth, next investigated the 

 ornithology of Devon. As early as 1830, he published a list of 

 the Birds of Devon in the Transactions of the Plymouth Institute 

 of which he was the Secretary. In 1837, he published supple- 

 mentary lists of the same, remarking that " The subject of 

 ornithology lias long been pursued here, and besides my own 

 collection I have access to those of Lord Boringdon at 8altram, of 

 Sir G. Magrath, Plymouth, of Dr. Isbell : of C. Tripe Esq., : of 

 Mr. Drew, Collector, of Stonehouse : and Pincombe and Bolitho, 

 Collectors, at Devonport." A third instalment of the labours of 

 this excellent naturalist appeared in Rowe's Perambulation of 

 Dartmoor in 1848. Wc must now return to the period of Dr. 

 Moore's first list. In 1832, or two years after its appearance, we 

 find Mrs. Bray in correspondence with Robert Southey. In a 

 letter written from the vicarage, Tavistock, on June 9th, 1832, 

 Mrs. Bray mentioned to Southey the name of the Rev. Thomas 

 Johnes, Rector of Bradstone, Devon, adding "whenever you 

 honour us with a visit at Tavistock, we hope to take you to his 

 house, that you may see his beautiful collection of birds. These 

 he stuffed himself." In her twentieth letter to the poet, Mrs. 

 Bray includes an account of the ornithology of Dartmoor sent to 

 her by Mr. Johnes himself. It is too extended to be here 

 reproduced, the more so as it is easily referred to in the original, 

 but cme significant passage is the following : " The Tors of 

 Dartmoor, lofty though they be and desolate, are yet too accessible 

 to afford shelter to the eagle or its eyrie. Dr. E. Moore of 

 Plymouth indeed mentions a pair, which built some years since on 

 Dewerstone Rock in Bickleigh Vale, but he speaks from report 

 only." Scarcely less interesting is Mr. Johnes's remark upon the 

 Kite: "It is affirmed that Kites were common in this district 

 forty or fifty years ago. At present (1832) they are so rare, that 

 I have never seen one alive, and but one, a very beautiful 

 specimen in the collection of the late W. Baron, Esq., at Tregear." 



