BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN 

 COUNTY. 



CHAPTER I. 



AMONGST THE HEATHER AND GORSE. 



To persons with a long experience of the vast 

 tracts of moorland that stretch in almost unin- 

 terrupted monotony from the Welsh mountains 

 or the Peak of Derbyshire to the Highlands, the 

 "moors" of Devonshire must always seem un- 

 worthy of the name their limited area and 

 comparatively cultivated aspect depriving them 

 of that rugged grandeur which is the most char- 

 acteristic feature of the moors as a north-country 

 man knows and loves and understands them. 

 The heather is by no means universal ; and 

 the ornithologist will miss many a bird peculiar 



