7O BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



Within tidal limits, Gulls (more especially 

 Herring Gulls) are familiar objects upon these 

 Devonshire rivers, and very frequently pass from 

 one to another across the intervening country, or 

 strike inland from the coast to their higher reaches. 

 Above tidal water, these rivers generally become 

 narrow and insignificant streams almost at once, so 

 that the character of the bird-life upon their banks 

 changes with equal suddenness. Take sleepy, red, 

 old Totnes, for instance. Below the picturesque 

 bridge that spans the river, the Dart is a wide and 

 roomy waterway, crowded with boats, and upon 

 which a tiny steamer plys to Dartmouth with 

 expansive tidal flats and hanging woodlands, with 

 billowy, verdure-clad hills and lake-like reaches. 

 Above the bridge, the river narrows quickly, and 

 soon becomes a mere trout-stream, which dances 

 and glides over a more or less rocky bed from 

 the moorland plateau whence it derives its source. 

 Below bridge, we have the haunt of Gull and 

 Wader, of Grebe and Heron ; above bridge, the 

 home of the Grey Wagtail and the Dipper, and 

 the favourite resort of the Summer Snipe and the 

 Kingfisher. The Dart is but typical of many 

 another Devonshire waterway, which rises amidst 



