THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 145 



they had no doubt travelled in company. Mr. Cecil 

 Smith received one in the flesh on the 7th of 

 November, " shot on the river between Barnstaple 

 and Instow," and another was sent to him on the 

 10th of the month ; both of these birds were sold 

 as lot, 106 at Mr. Smith's sale at Steven's, London, 

 on Jmie 24:th, 1890. Of the other two specimens 

 obtained, one was unfortunately too much injured to 

 be preserved ; the other entered the possession of 

 the Rev. M. A. Mathew (Zool. 1870. p. 2^09, 1871. 

 p. 2441). 



DUNLIN. — Tringa alpina, Linn. 



An autumn and winter visitant to our estuaries, 

 when large flocks congregate on the mud banks at 

 the mouth of the Exe and other rivers, feeding 

 eagerly in the sand as the tide begins to ebb. 

 Large numbers are supplied to the poulterers in our 

 seaside resorts, the species being numerous from 

 August, when young birds first arrive on the coast ; 

 these are for a time confiding and fearless. Mr. 

 Rawson finds the Dunlin common in winter on the 

 Taw river and in Woolacombe Bay, it is equally 

 plentiful at that season on the South Coast. Dr. 

 Moore states in his ' Ornithology of Dartmoor,' 

 (Rowe's Perambulation of Dartmoor, 1848), that 

 the Dunlin breeds on Dartmoor, but this statement 

 has never apparently been substantiated, though the 

 late Mr. Rodd proved that the Dunlin breeds in 

 Cornwall. In August, 1876, Gatcombe detected 



