AMONGST THE HEATHER AND GORSE. 33 



Still keeping to the districts of the gorse, a 

 few words may here be devoted to the bird- 

 life of the warrens tracts of rough uninclosed 

 land or sand-hills, in some places scored into a 

 network of trenches by the encroaching sea, as, 

 for instance, between Starcross and Dawlish, 

 where passengers by the Great Western Railway 

 can catch many a peep at bird-life from the 

 carriage windows ; in others situated on higher 

 ground, as between Churston and Brixham, 

 or between the latter place and Berry Head. 

 In most of these places gorse is plentiful, if 

 growing in more or less scattered clumps, or with 

 patches of stony and bramble- and bracken-covered 

 ground here and there among the coverts. We 

 need not stay now to dwell upon the departed 

 ornithological riches of the famous warren upon 

 the banks of the Exe, but will confine ourselves 

 to the present-day aspect of these localities. A 

 familiar bird in most of them is the Common 

 Bunting, a species most abundant within sight of 

 the sea in all parts of the county. This, the 

 plainest, is at the same time the largest of the 

 British Buntings, and its notes are out and away 

 the least musical. The clumsy-looking bird, as 



3 



