THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 129 



sand-bank at the mouth of the Exe, Sept. 7th, 1851, 

 " They appeared very tame, occasionally alighting 

 on the sand, on which their movements very much 

 resembled those of the Ring Dotterel. Their manner 

 of flight was very much like that of the swallow" 

 (Zool. 1852. p. 3710). Mr Ross informed Mr. 

 Gatcombe that he once saw two on the Warren sands 

 (Rowe's B. of D. p. 32); it is possible that he saw 

 the same birds as Mr. Buller. The third instance 

 is now recorded for the first time : " The Collared 

 Pratincole, " writes the Rev. G. C. Green, " was 

 seen by my sons on the l-lth of August, 1885, near 

 the banks of the Erme in Flete Park. They had 

 the opportunity of observing it for a long time, and 

 sometimes very closely as it was not at all wild. 

 They could distinguish all its colours and describe 

 them most faithfully. They were attracted to it 

 first by its appearance on the wing, when it looked 

 very like an enormous swallow with its long wings 

 and forked tail, and flight similar to a Swallow. 

 It would frequently alight and run about on the 

 ground, and then it was just like abird of the Swallow 

 or Plover tribe. Some weeks after I saw in the Field 

 the report of a Pratincole from another Western 

 County; very probably the same bird was noticed 



there.'' 



Family Charadriid^. 



CREAM-COLOURED COURSER.— C;<rsor/?<s fialUrus (Gmel). 

 A RARE visitant. A single bird appeared in 

 Braunton Marshes in October 1856, and after a 



