CHAPTER VII. 



BIRD-LIFE ALONG THE SHORE, 



BIRD -LIFE along the shore, in a county like 

 Devonshire, must be taken as a very compre- 

 hensive phrase. Next to Cornwall, this is our 

 most sea -encircled English county, and its ex- 

 tensive coasts, washed by both Bristol and English 

 Channels, present great diversity of physical aspect, 

 and a corresponding variety in the bird-life upon 

 them. Few other reaches of the English coast- 

 line present us with such complete and sudden 

 changes in their general aspect. Noble ranges of 

 sea-washed cliffs give place to broad flat estuaries 

 and muds ; stretches of sand and shingle are 

 separated by extensive marshlands and bold, 

 billowy, rocky downs ; fiords and smaller in- 

 dentations are succeeded by level sandy reaches; 

 bold headlands, wide sweeping bays, and labyrinths 

 of tidal channels following one after the other as 



