262 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



land the bay is mostly tranquil, but with a wintry 

 gale beating in from the open Channel the aspect 

 is very different. At high water the big white- 

 crested rollers break upon the shore in fury, 

 dashing up the cliffs in clouds of spray, and going 

 completely over the breakwaters. The coast right 

 round is outlined by a seething caldron of breakers, 

 and great white-crested seas may be seen tumbling 

 over on the horizon, or rising in white masses 

 against tfie various headlands and cliffs ; while 

 big lumps of brown foam are blown along the 

 sands like leaves in autumn. Yet in spite of all 

 this the Brent Geese may be often seen far out in 

 the bay, rising and falling like corks as they ride 

 out the gale apparently unconcerned. We often 

 watch them thus, noting how the incoming tide 

 brings them nearer and nearer to the shore, when 

 they rise from the waves and fly out again for 

 some distance, to repeat the movement a little later 

 on. We should say that in this district the Brent 

 Goose is almost exclusively a night feeder. Some- 

 times odd birds are shot from the shore ; we knew 

 of three being so killed in one spot at different 

 times during the winter of 1893-94. The Barnacle 

 Goose is a rare visitor to the seas off the Devon- 



