BIRD-LIFE ALONG THE SHORE. 193 



haunt the muds and saltings during winter 

 especially are of enormous size. There can be 

 no doubt that many of these birds are migrants; 

 the county could never supply them all. Tens 

 of thousands of Lapwings occasionally invade us 

 from the north and east, particularly during hard 

 winters. They do not often appear in the Tor 

 Bay district in such large flocks, but a little 

 higher up the coast, in the Teignmouth and 

 Exmouth areas, their numbers are often im- 

 pressive. Continued frosts also bring the Golden 

 Plovers down to the salt marshes and mudflats, 

 where they assemble in flocks. They are remark- 

 ably wary and difficult of approach, but we have 

 known numbers to be obtained by lying in wait 

 for them concealed on the muds and flats. In 

 autumn the Grey Plover is also sometimes met 

 with in the Teignmouth district, but the bird is 

 decidedly rare. 



Various Sandpipers, in addition to those already 

 mentioned, visit our coasts especially during the 

 two seasons of passage. One of the most interest- 

 ing of these is the Knot. Small flocks of this 

 interesting polar species may be observed on 

 the Devonshire mudflats about the third week 



13 



