198 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



due to the rapid growth of population in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood. We have seen Curlews 

 on the coast here at all times of the year. The 

 bird breeds on Dartmoor, and can pay fleeting 

 visits to the coast at any time with no great 

 exertion. We rarely see a flock of Curlew on 

 the shore in this district, but farther along the 

 coast, where marsh-land and mudflats are frequent, 

 such a sight is by no means uncommon. The 

 Curlews that fereed in Devon retire to the coasts 

 as soon as their young can fly, which is in July or 

 August, and from that time onwards the numbers 

 gradually increase as migratory individuals con- 

 tinue to arrive. There are few more pleasing 

 sounds to be heard along the flat shore than 

 the shrill piping curlee-curlee of this fine bird. 

 Curlews time the tides to a nicety. At high 

 water they usually retire inland, but shortly after 

 the first rocks appear above the ebbing tide back 

 they come again to feed, following the receding 

 sea and retiring before it as it flows again land- 

 wards. 



Of all the birds observed upon the shore the 

 Gulls are the most prominent, the most readily 

 remarked. They are always with us too; when- 



