THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 139 



(Zool. 1866. p. 527). In 1870, we find the Rev. 

 M. A. Mathew writing, on October 22nd; "The 

 heavy gale of last week intercepted a number of 

 Grey Phalaropes on their migration, and caused 

 them to put in for shelter on our Western Coasts. 

 I have heard of sixteen being shot in one day, at 

 Instow in North Devon." He writes again, on the 

 3rd of November : " I hear of Phalaropes occurring 

 plentifully in many places. The birdstuffer at 

 Barnstaple speaks of upwards of sixty having been 

 brought to him for preservation " (Zool. 1870. p.p. 

 2386. 2410). Mr. Cecil Smith at the same time 

 recorded a dozen Phalaropes killed in Somerset 

 with the remark ; " In the neighbouring County of 

 Devon I hear they have been much more plentiful." 

 Mr. Balkwill obtained eighteen specimens in 

 October 1870, at Plymouth, and states that Grey 

 Phalaropes were scattered over nearly the whole 

 of Plymouth Sound. 



The foregoing statements will suffice to illustrate 

 the immigration of this bird to Devon in certain 

 years of exceptional plenty, and to show that both 

 the North and South Coasts participate in receiving 

 the visits of the Grey Phalarope. The Rev. M. A. 

 Mathew points out, for example, than when Phala- 

 ropes occurred in such numbers on the South Coast 

 in 1866, many occurred also in September on the 

 estuary of the river Taw. But it should be under- 

 stood that the visits which we, in Devon, receive 

 from the Grey Phalarope, whether of stragglers or 



