THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 23 



the little bay, from one range of rocks to the other, 

 flying low over the waves as they broke on the 

 shingly beach, and perching every now and then on 

 the huge stones that form the breakwater jutting 

 out into the sea." (Zool. 1860. p. 6797). 



Fa mi/// Paxurid.^:. 

 BEARDED TITMOUSE.— P^/«^^/7^s hiarmkm, (Linn). 



A KARE visitant. Dr. Moore in 1830, catalogued 

 this species as a Devonshire bird, on the information 

 of Mr. Comyns that it occurred in the willow beds 

 oj^posite Topsham, on the River Exe ; Bellamy 

 stated in 1839, that it was found " in one or two 

 sj^ots near Exeter," but their is nothing to confirm 

 this vague, hearsay evidence. That the species luis 

 occurred, however, in the North of the County is 

 certain, as the Rev. Murray A. Mathew, in a letter 

 dated January 12th, 1890, writes; "' The Bearded 

 Titmouse occurred to me only once in North Devon, 

 and this was in a salt marsh close to Barnstaple. 

 I was looking out for duck one rough autumn day 

 and a squall of sleet made me run to the shelter of 

 a sedgy fence, and while I was there, hearing some 

 strange bird notes close behind me, I turned and saw 

 some ten or dozen Bearded Tits in the Sedge. I 

 watched them for some time with great pleasure, 

 and did not molest them.'' It is probable that these 

 individuals were immigrants from the Continent. 

 The llev. J. C. Green informs me that there is a 

 Bearded Tit in the Torquay Museum local collection, 



