THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 143 



at midnight. In 1885, another migrating bird was 

 killed at Bideford Bar on the 10th of the same 

 month. Snipe are also reported as visiting Lundy 

 Island at that season, sometimes in company with 

 Woodcock. 



JACK HmPE.—GaIIi)Mr/o gaUinvln (Linn). 



A WINTER visitant. Mr. Gatcombe writes in 1878 ; 

 " Jack Snipe appeared unusually early this year. 

 Two were shot on September 17th, and others a 

 few days earlier." The Rev. M. A. Mathew 

 furnishes additional evidence of such early arrivals : 

 '' On Dartmoor the lOtli September was an average 

 date for flushing the first Jack. On some salt 

 marshes near Barnstaple, I have seen Jack Snipe on 

 September 3rd." The greater number of those 

 that visit this county arrive in October and 

 November. 



RED-BREASTED ^'^W^.—Macrorhamphus griseus (Gmel). 



A RARE visitant. Montagu says ; "A small flock of 

 these extremely rare birds made their appearance 

 on the coast of Devon in the spring of 1803, one of 

 which was shot in my neighbourhood, and is now 

 in my museum " (Linn. Soc. Trans. IX. p. 198). 

 He adds, in his Supplement, that this bird was a 

 female, killed near Kingsbridge on the 21st of 

 May, 1803. Dr. Moore records a second 

 Devonshire specimen, in the collection of Mr. Drew 



