BIRD-LIFE AT SEA. 26 1 



view in the evening gloom. We never saw them 

 in the bay afterwards, and have no idea whence 

 they came or whither they went. In 1897 the 

 brood of Swans belonging to a pair of birds on 

 the ornamental lake in the public park at Paignton 

 were not pinioned, and eventually made their 

 escape to the bay. They frequented the sea here 

 for the greater part of the autumn and winter, and 

 one of them we know was shot for a wild bird a 

 proceeding for which the rash gunner had to pay. 

 We are not much better favoured by Geese. The 

 only species that can be regarded as familiar in 

 Tor Bay is the Brent Goose. We rarely have 

 them here before November, and they remain with 

 us until the following March or April. Sometimes 

 flocks and small parties may be seen well in near 

 the land, but their favourite resorts are several 

 miles off shore between Berry Head and Hope's 

 Nose. Rough weather sometimes brings them 

 shorewards in considerable numbers. They must 

 be very hardy birds to live at all on water that we 

 frequently get here during the winter months. 

 Blue and sparkling, and beautifully peaceful, is the 

 normal aspect of Tor Bay in summer, or in the 

 absence of easterly winds. With the wind off the 



