THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 99 



visited our rivers, I saw thirteen in the Plymouth 

 and Devonport markets, and many were shot in the 

 North, of which I obtained one from Torrington " 

 (Nat. Hist. Mag. 1837. p. 806). 



BEWICK'S SWAN.— C/////?ws beirkld, Yarr. 

 A EARE winter visitant. The only recent occurrence 

 of Bewick's Swan in Devon at present known, is 

 that recorded in the Zoologist for 1876 by Mr. H. 

 Nicholls, who states that on the 14th of November 

 in that year a pair of these Swans appeared upon 

 the Kingsbridge estuary. One of them was shot, 

 and being purchased by Mr. Nicholls, proved to be 

 a female. It weighed eleven. pounds and a half. 



SHELD J)\]QK.—Tadorna comuta (S. G. Grnel). 

 A WINTER visitant to our southern estuaries. Dr. 

 Moore records it as breeding on Braunton Burrows 

 in 1837, and Mr. Rawson believes that it still holds 

 out as a resident species. In the neighbourhood of 

 Plymouth, Gatcombe considered it a " hard 

 weather" fowl. Those, which he dissected during 

 the winter months, proved to have fed chiefly on 

 minute shells. Mr. Waddilove says the Sheld Duck 

 used formerly to breed on Dawlish Warren, but it 

 has not, to my knowledge, done so within the last 

 three or four years. 



MALLARD. — Anas boscas, Linn. 

 A RESIDENT and breeding species, but the numbers 

 of our home-bred birds are reinforced in early 



