BIRDS 



the Moors and the sea to the eastern boundary of the St. Columb-Camborne 

 district. Many factors combine to make this the head quarters of the 

 passerine birds of the county. The abundance of streams and deep wooded 

 valleys, the quick alternation of sylvan and moorland, farmland and waste, 

 and the reaches of sheltered fertile land, make it specially attractive to 

 warblers, tits, wagtails, and finches ; while its hills and exposed uplands, cul- 

 minating in the Kingston Downs, the transition, sometimes gradual, some- 

 times abrupt, from the bleak borders of the moors through grazing and arable 

 land to the richly-wooded Tamar on the east, and the warm inviting coast on 

 the south, with its sheltered estuaries and tidal rivers, its broken and preci- 

 pitous coast and its seductive valleys running up from the sea, attract birds of 

 many different types. The deep valley of the Tamar and the lateral tributary 

 valleys from the Bodmin Moors on the one side and Dartmoor on the other, 

 and the easy passage of birds from north and south Devon, favour migration 

 in the eastern part of the district ; while the valley of the Fowey and its 

 affluents and the valley of the Looe materially influence the movements and 

 distribution of birds in the south. 



In the eastern half of the district the redstart, wood-warbler, tree-pipit, and 

 garden-warbler breed every year, nesting as far west as Trebartha. The grey 

 wagtail, the dipper, and the spotted flycatcher, though breeding in suitable 

 localities throughout the county, have their head quarters in this district. So 

 also have the blackcap and the nuthatch, which breed but sparingly further 

 west, and the greater and the lesser spotted woodpeckers, which till recently 

 had not ventured outside the area between Trebartha and the Tamar. The 

 cirl-bunting nests regularly, and the yellow wagtail occasionally in the south- 

 east of the district. The willow-warbler, the sedge-warbler, and the coal-tit 

 are locally abundant, and the whinchat and grasshopper warbler breed in the 

 eastern half and at least occasionally between Looe and Liskeard, while the 

 reed-warbler occurs every summer in the Looe valley. The marsh-tit is 

 common, and about Trebartha is more abundant than anywhere else in the 

 county. The corn-bunting is somewhat scarce, but the reed-bunting is repre- 

 sented by several widely separated colonies. The woodlark nests sparingly 

 over the whole district from the Tamar to Restormel valley. The kingfisher 

 is specially plentiful on some parts of the Fowey. The buzzard breeds at 

 Boconnoc, and both the kestrel and the sparrow-hawk are much commoner 

 than in the northern districts. The peregrine nests at Pelyn near Lostwithiel. 

 Several pairs of ravens breed in the district. The heron is much in evidence, 

 there being two heronries on the Fowey near Lostwithiel, one at Trenant 

 near Looe which formerly contained about thirty nests but has now dwindled 

 to two or three, and one in Sheviock Wood near St. Germans. There is also 

 one at Warleigh on the Devonshire side of the Tamar. The stock-dove and 

 the rock-dove are locally common both inland and on the coast. The wood- 

 pigeon has become plentiful of late years in consequence of the increase of fir 

 plantations. The sea-cliffs are in many places thickly populated with martins, 

 jackdaws, swifts, shags and herring-gulls, with a few cormorants, lesser black- 

 backed gulls, guillemots and razor-bills. The kittiwake still breeds in at least 

 one locality. Oyster-catchers and ringed-plovers nest on the beaches at Looe 

 and elsewhere. The lesser grebe is not uncommon on the estuaries and tidal 

 rivers during the breeding season, and the great crested and occasionally the 



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