2O8 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



with this solitary exception, are the richest in 

 avine inhabitants. We have no stirring descrip- 

 tions to give of cliffs white with struggling birds, 

 no animated scenes to witness such as remain 

 graven on the tablets of memory after watching 

 bird-life in St. Kilda and many another haunt of 

 fowl, no visits to pay to the wonderful earthworks 

 of Puffin or Shearwater the rocks and downs of 

 Devon in comparison with these seem tenantless 

 and deserted. The cliffs of the Devonshire coast 

 must therefore be regarded more as hunting 

 grounds than as show places for the ornithologist 

 as minor sets, rather than grand mise-en-scenes 

 in the stirring drama of bird-life. The avine riches 

 of our coast such as they are must be sought 

 for with an eye trained to ornithological observa- 

 tion; they are not palpable to every visitor, like 

 those of so many bird stations elsewhere. Perhaps 

 the following notes on the bird-life of our cliffs in 

 this southern county may therefore be of service to 

 the novice or to more experienced visitors new to 

 the locality. 



The Herring Gull is the only sea-bird that 

 nests upon the cliffs along the entire range of 

 the South Devon coast. Odd Guillemots and 



