176 THE BIRDS OF DEVONSHIRE. 



hood of Teignmouth, they are sometimes numerous 

 in Torbay, and Plymouth Sound is a noted haunt, 

 but on the whole their numbers seem to have 

 decreased latterly. In the late winter and early 

 spring of 1869 and 1870, they were very numerous 

 at Teignmouth and in Plymouth Sound, but Baron 

 A. von Hiigel found them very scarce in Torbay 

 during the winter 1869-70. In the spring of 1879, 

 Mr. Gatcombe remarks, " I am glad to say that 

 Redthroated Divers are now becoming more 

 numerous than they have been for some years past. 

 After severe winters, they used formerly to appear 

 sometimes in great numbers, and on such occasions 

 many remained on our coasts until they had assumed 

 their full breeding plumage " (Zool. 1879. p. 207). 

 But in 1880 he writes, that this species " was 

 unusually scarce in the winter 1879-80, and is 

 becoming more uncommon every year " (Zool. 1880. 

 p. 247). 



Family PoDiciPEDiDiE. 

 GREAT CRESTED GREBE.— Po^^^joes cristatus (Liun). 

 A WINTER and spring visitant to our larger rivers 

 and estuaries, generally considered rather a rare 

 bird in Devonshire, though Baron A. von Hiigel 

 considered the Great Crested and Sclavonian Grebes 

 the most numerous of the genus in Torbay. At 

 Plymouth Mr. Gatcombe met with specimens in 

 March, 1870, and on some other occasions. On the 

 Avon, a female bird was shot in December, 1875. 



