A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



that the green sandpiper occasionally breeds on the moors about Trewortha 

 Marsh, but no nest has ever been found. 



The most characteristic moorland birds in summer are the wheatear and 

 ring-ouzel. The former is fairly common on the granite-strewn hill-sides, the 

 latter still breeds in small scattered colonies among the rocks and heath of 

 the higher tors. The snipe, curlew, lapwing, mallard, teal, coot, moorhen, 

 water-rail, and meadow-pipit all breed regularly on the moors, though some of 

 them are by no means abundantly represented. The dunlin, too, nests in 

 small numbers in the marshes round Brown Willy and Roughtor, and on the 

 moors and turf-pits between St. Neot's stream and the Upper Fowey. The 

 golden plover has never been known to breed, though birds with fully 

 developed plumage may be seen in the month of May. The common sand- 

 piper nests among the old Streamworks by the Upper Fowey, and wherever 

 there are old sand-banks on the moors. The raven is not so scarce as it was 

 fifteen years ago. The stock-dove breeds abundantly on one or two of the 

 granite tors, often in the company of the swift. 



During the winter the moors are dreary and desolate. Bird-life in 

 general is scarce, and small birds are almost entirely wanting. In the average 

 winter, snipe, jack-snipe, woodcock, lapwing, and golden plover are usually 

 well represented. Teal are fairly plentiful, and wigeon at times abundant. 

 Duck, too, often occur in considerable numbers, particularly at the beginning 

 and at the close of severe weather, while pintail and golden-eye are not 

 uncommon during frost. The spotted crake is occasionally flushed on the 

 snipe marshes, and the merlin is a regular winter visitor. 



2. THE BUDE AND CAMEL DISTRICT 



This takes in the coast-line from Marsland Mouth to Trevose Head. It 

 includes that part of the county to the north of Launceston and the Bodmin 

 Moors, and, in addition, the valleys of the Camel and Allen, with the estuary 

 at Padstow. The former consists for the most part of a strip of high-lying, 

 wind-swept land, of open tracts of undulating grass, trimmed short by the 

 sea-breezes and tufted by sea-pinks and little mounds of wind-sculptured 

 gorse, with here and there rough arable land, stony bits of common and 

 stretches of heathery down, ending seaward in a great wall of seamed and 

 fissured cliffs of slate, and broken abruptly by deep sheltering coombes. 

 Down in the ' bottoms,' at the head of the coombes, wherever in fact there is 

 shelter from the pitiless gales, the trees, and especially oaks, grow 

 spontaneously and abundantly, but in the open the struggle is hopeless. 

 Further back from the sea there is more arable land, and of better quality, 

 but except in the valleys this makes little difference to the bird-life, for the 

 inhospitable winds destroy all trees. The most important break in the rock- 

 girt coast from Hennacliff to Tintagel is formed by the shallow low-lying 

 valley of Bude. The gardens and orchards of Boscastle and the lovely 

 sheltered wooden glen of Minster form another delightful oasis for bird life, 

 and several woodland birds show a special affection for the charming 

 Kneighton's Kieve, with its long strip of wood and abundant undergrowth. 



^ Though the high cliff-land is more or less persistent all the way round 

 to Trevose Head, the western portion of the district contains a good deal of 



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