BIRDS 



143. Osprey. PanJion haliaetus (Linn.). 



A casual autumn visitor to the estuaries of the 

 west and to Scilly, usually in immature plumage. At 

 least eight specimens have been obtained since 1849, 

 the last three being : one at Mawnan, Falmouth, in 

 October, 1865 ; one at Pendarvis, Camborne, in the 

 autumn of 1882, and one at St. Winnow, Lostwithiel, 

 in March, 1903, which may have been the same bird 

 that was seen by Clark at Godrevy and Lelant in 

 September, 1902. One that used to roost on the 

 flagstaff at the beacon on Castle Downs, Tresco, was 

 shot by Pechell in September, 1849. 



144. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.). 

 Resident ; fairly common and thinly distributed 



along the coast and estuaries ; more in evidence in 

 the west and round the Lizard district than else- 

 where ; abundant at Scilly. 



145. Shag. Phalacrocorax graculus (Linn.). 

 Resident, both in the county and at Scilly ; much 



commoner as a breeding bird than the cormorant ; 

 not uncommon in the winter on Dosemary Pool and 

 other inland waters. 



146. Gannet or Solan Goose. Sula bassana (Linn.). 

 A common visitor to the Cornish coast all the year 



round, but most frequently seen in the autumn in 

 small flocks. It flies westward in October, and 

 returns with the pilchard shoals which migrate east- 

 ward along the south coast later on in the same 

 month. It has never been known to breed in the 

 county. It may be seen on the open seas round 

 Scilly at all times, but does not as a rule come among 

 the islands. 



147. Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 



A common resident. There are heronries near 

 Truro, Lostwithiel, Looe, and St. Germans, but so 

 far as can be ascertained none in the north of the 

 county. Herons, however, are to be seen at Scilly, 

 and on most of the streams and shallow ponds of 

 Cornwall all the year round. The Stack Rock between 

 Tresco and St. Martin's, and Gathers between St. 

 Martin's and St. Mary's can almost always show one 

 or two birds, and twenty or thirty at a time is by no 

 means an uncommon sight. 



148. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, Linn. 



An accidental straggler, chiefly to the west of the 

 county ; an adult shot at Killiow, Truro, about 1 843 ; 

 another at St. Burian, 8 April, 1850 ; a third on the 

 Tamar, in 1851 ; a female killed at the Lizard in 

 April, 1867 ; one in rufous immature plumage shot 

 by Dorrien-Smith on St. Mary's Moors 30 August, 

 1878, and another immature bird at Scilly in April, 

 1898. 

 [Little Egret. Ardea garzetta, Linn. 



Couch, in his Cornish fauna (pt. i, p. 22), says of 

 this species, ' One or two specimens are known ' ; and 

 J. Brooking Rowe l speaks of ' one or two specimens 

 on the Tamar.' In the absence of an authentic 

 Cornish specimen, however, these statements are too 

 vague to entitle the species to a place in the county 

 ornis.] 



149. Squacco Heron. Ardea ralloldes, Scopoli. 



An accidental straggler in the spring, chiefly to the 

 west of the county, including Scilly. Over twenty 



specimens have been taken in the county, but none in 

 adult plumage. 



150. Night-Heron. Nycticorax griseus (Linn.). 



A casual visitor, usually in April or May, of which 

 eleven well-authenticated samples, chiefly adults, have 

 been recorded for the county. A pair in adult 

 plumage, shot near Hayle in the second week of 

 May, 1869, suggested the possibility of its breeding 

 in the county. A solitary example was knocked on 

 the head by David Smith in a clump of bushes on 

 Tresco 15 May, 1849. 



151. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta (Linn.). 



A casual visitor, probably often overlooked ; an 

 adult female picked up in an exhausted condition on 

 Coverack beach previous to 1850 ; an adult male 

 shot at Tresco, Scilly, 13 June, 1866 ; an adult male 

 captured in an orchard in the parish of St. Hilary 

 12 October, 1867 ; an adult female obtained at 

 Skewjack, near Land's End, in the end of May, 1 870 ; 

 and an adult male, with a broken leg, picked up on 

 Lostwithiel Parade early in August, 1901. 



152. Bittern. Botaurus stellaris (Linn.). 



A winter visitor in very irregular numbers, occur- 

 ring annually on snipe marshes and swampy moors ; 

 particularly abundant in December, 1867, and in the 

 winter of 1890-1. In one week in 1891 the 

 Penzance taxidermist received seven specimens. Six 

 or seven examples recorded for Scilly, including one 

 on the marshes at Porthellick Bay, St. Mary's. 



153. American Bittern. Botaurus lentiginosus (Mont.). 



An accidental wanderer. A specimen in a very 

 exhausted condition was picked up on Bryher in 

 October, 1903, and is still alive in the aviary at 

 Tresco. 



1 54. Little Green Heron. Butorides virescens (Linn.). 

 The only British representative of this wanderer 



from tropical and temperate America was shot at 

 Penrice, St. Austell, on 27 October, 1889, and 

 exhibited at the Linnean Society in April, 1890, by 

 Sir Charles Sawle.* The specimen is now in the 

 museum of the Royal Institution of Cornwall. 



155. White Stork. Ciconia alba, Bechstein. 



An accidental straggler ; in May, 1 848, an adult 

 bird killed in the Land's End district ; one seen by 

 F. Nicholls on White Marsh, Lostwithiel, November, 

 1885. 



156. Black Stork. Ciconia nigra (Linn.). 



An accidental autumn visitor ; one killed on 

 Beggar's Island in the Lynher in November, 1831 ; 

 one at Scilly in September, 1887, and another in 

 October, 1890. 



157. Glossy Ibis. Plegadis fakinellus (Linn.). 



An occasional accidental autumn wanderer to the 

 west of the county and Scilly, always in immature 

 plumage; has occurred at Scilly in 1854, 1866 and 

 1902 ; has also been shot at Paul and at Hayle; 

 and in 1900 was obtained at Saltash, and again at 

 Hayle. 



158. Spoonbill. Platalea Itucorodia, Linn. 



A casual visitor, but by no means rare, appearing 

 for the most part during the autumn migration ; has 



1 Tram. Plymouth Intt. 1862-3. 



9 Zoologist, 1890, pp. 105, 181. 



339 



