292 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



be mentioned, but their appearance in Devonshire 

 in many cases scarcely deserves special record. 

 Of these, however, we might instance the Rough- 

 legged Buzzard, the Hoopoe, the Spoonbill, the 

 Avocet, the Great Snipe, the two Bustards (Little 

 and Great), Richard's Pipit, the Rose-coloured 

 Pastor, the White-bellied Swift, the Roller, and 

 the Bee-eater. One word, in conclusion, respecting 

 the Shore Lark. This bird has twice been reported 

 to have bred in the county, but in each case there 

 can be no reasonable doubt that an error of 

 identification has been made. The most recent 

 instance related to our own particular neighbour- 

 hood Tor Bay. But from the facts recorded we 

 have no hesitation whatever in saying that the 

 Red-backed Shrike was the species taken for the 

 Shore Lark. My late old friend Else, than whom 

 few men had a sounder knowledge of South Devon 

 birds, informed me, shortly before his death, that 

 parties of Shore Larks visited the Livermead dis- 

 trict of Tor Bay every March. He assured me he 

 had seen them, but had no means to hand to 

 obtain specimens, and he always spoke of this bird 

 as a somewhat familiar one round the bay. We 

 have never seen the Shore Lark in Devonshire, 



