PREFACE. 



THE present volume, as its title suggests, is a 

 record of some of the observations made during 

 a residence of eight years on the south coast of 

 Devonshire, and on many excursions into various 

 other parts of the county. In some respects it 

 may be regarded as a record of comparison ; for 

 I have studied the bird-life of this area coming 

 as a stranger to the county and its ornis, and 

 with a life-long ornithological experience gained 

 in more northern and eastern shires. 



By all British ornithologists Devonshire must 

 ever be regarded as classic ground ; for years it 

 was the home of Montagu one of the Fathers 

 of Field Ornithology and within its borders 

 many of those discoveries were made which are 

 inseparably associated with his name. Few other 



