302 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



November brings the final transformation ; one 

 set of bird-life is completely replaced by another ; 

 the coasts and the seas and waters near them 

 are again filled with interesting birds ; the inland 

 thickets and hedgerows are deserted by the 

 migrant birds that are in constant attendance 

 upon summer, and the cycle of the year is almost 

 complete. December introduces to us here the 



various winter wanderers that roam about the 



i f 

 country-side in quest of food, and we often make 



the acquaintance of less familiar species that want 

 brings to our thresholds. But fortunately in 

 Devonshire such cold spells are exceptional, and 

 our little favourites are seldom in absolute want 

 for long together. Snowstorms visit us occasion- 

 ally, and drive the birds before them. Rough 

 weather in the moorland areas sometimes sends 

 large numbers of birds down to the lowlands, 

 but compared with more northern counties avine 

 movement is never so strongly manifest. Our 

 stubbles are seldom covered with snow for long 

 together, especially in the district of the South 

 Hams ; frosts rarely seal the waters sufficiently 

 to prevent birds obtaining their food in them. 

 Here, in the hedges and about the orchards and 



