Wading Birds of Devonshire. 319 



Art. VI. On the Wading Birds of Devonshire. By E. Moore, 

 M.D. F.L.S., Secretary to the Plymouth Institution. 



I again transmit an addition to my catalogue of Devonshire 

 birds, which includes some that ai*e exceedingly rare. The 

 arid granitic character of some parts of Dartmoor and Exmoor 

 would lead us to expect the appearance of the dotterel and 

 great plover, and we are not surprised at meeting with them ; 

 but those spots are not so well calculated for the abode of the 

 bustard as the grassy plains of Wiltshire ; and it is very pro- 

 bable, from other causes, that we shall seldom again have an 

 opportunity of obtaining this fine bird in Devonshire. We 

 consider ourselves fortunate in the possession of, I believe, 

 the only modern specimens of the crane and black stork ; 

 while the occurrence of the spoonbill, ibis, and avocette, to- 

 gether with the phalaropes, and rare stints and rails, points 

 out the facilities which our fine county affords for the pursuit 

 of ornithological investigation. Most of the shore birds 

 breed about the swamps of the Moor, together with the 

 lapwings and plovers, from whence they spread over the 

 county on the approach of winter, and it is probably to this 

 trackless waste that we are chiefly indebted for so large a 

 collection of the birds of this order. 



Order V. GRA'LL^E. 



Fara. i. Pressirostres. 

 Gen. O v tis. 



1. O x tis tarda, Great bustard. Montagu states that a specimen was 



shot near Plymouth, in the winter of 179S, and two others the 

 following year. 



2. CTtis Tetrax, Little bustard. Very rare. Montagu speaks of one 



being shot in December 1804, and taken to Plymouth market, 

 where it was sold as a heath fowl. He saw one in a turnip field 

 in October, 1810, in Devonshire; and, in 1820, another was shot 

 on Creacombe Moor, near Exmoor. 

 Gen. Chara v drius. — Subgen. 1. CEdicnemus. 



1. CEdicnemus crepitans, Great plover, or Thick-kneed bustard Al- 

 though Montagu thought them scarce in Devon, and mentions 

 only two, shot in February 1837, near the Start, yet we not un- 

 frequently meet with them. In the winter of 1826, Mr. Drew ob- 

 tained a specimen near Plymouth ; others are in Mr. Rowe's, and 

 Bolitho's, and Pincombe's collections ; and also at Ham, the 

 seat of Mrs. Collyns ; and Mr. Charles Prideaux of Hatch Arun- 

 del, near Kingsbridge, informs me that occasionally specimens 

 are obtained in that neighbourhood. 

 Subgen. 2. Charadrius. 



1. Charadrius pluvialis, Golden plover. Common. Flocks, in win- 

 ter, are found on the borders of Dartmoor; they breed here, as I 

 have specimens, with the black breast and neck. A brood of six 

 was obtained on the banks of the Tamar, in 1827; and two young 

 were caught at Roborough Down, in 1829, and are now in pos- 

 session of Mr. Whipple, surgeon, Plymouth. 

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