THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 49 



between twenty and thirty Reed Buntings in a 

 marshy piece of ground at Broadclyst, otherwise I 

 have only observed the species in pairs and small 

 family parties. 



SNOW BJJ'^Tma.—Plprfrophanes nnw/i.<< (Linn). 



A WINTER visitant, met with sparingly, chiefly on 

 the coasts of N. and S. Devon, either singly or in 

 twos and threes, large flocks being quite unknown. 

 Stragglers occasionly appear early in October, and 

 in 1880, Mr. Gatcombe examined an adult shot near 

 Plymouth, in September, but mid-winter is the 

 season at which it is most frequently noticed. The 

 same localities are visited in successive years in the 

 Northam Burrows, Exmouth, Kingsbridge and 

 Devonport districts. Mr. Mitchell has only once 

 met with the Snow Bunting in Devonshire, a 

 solitary wanderer, observed on one of the highest 

 tors of Dartmoor, in the middle of winter. 



Family Sturnid^. 

 STARLING. — S/nrnus vulgaris, Linn, 



An abundant resident, nesting generally about our 

 houses and sheds, though fifty years ago Bellamy 

 could only say that it bred ' ' in some few spots in 

 Devon ;'' albeit even then occurring " in great flocks 

 through the winter," (Nat. Hist, of Devon, p. 203). 

 The flights of thousands, that collect at favourite 

 'roosts' during the autumn, exhibit many beautiful 

 exercises. The evergreen oaks in Polsloe Park, 



