2920 Tue ZooLoGisT—FEBRuARY, 1872. 
Fieldfares, Redwings, Gannets, §c.—November lst, 1871. I 
walked this afternoon from Cremill, the landing point under Mount 
Edgecombe to Whitsand Bay. A cold, raw day, with half a gale 
from the eastward. While crossing the hill near Maker Church 
a large flock of fieldfares and redwings, numbering some hundreds, 
passed overhead, and further on, in a recently ploughed field, 
these birds were in thousands, and very tame, as they scarcely took 
any notice of me as I leant over a gate watching them : one or two 
only, that were in closer proximity than the others, merely moved 
a little further off, where they sat head to wind, cowering as near 
the ground as possible, to avoid the strength of the cutting blast; 
and nearly the whole flock were in this position. I suspect they 
had just arrived, and were resting after a long journey, for I noticed 
none of them were feeding, and when I returned, about an hour - 
afterwards, they had all gone. One rarely, as far as my experience 
goes, observes fieldfares in large flocks in Devonshire. 
When I was a boy it was considered a grand thing to shoot one 
of them, and a feat but seldom performed, for the “ blue-back ” 
is a wary bird. Perhaps their appearance in such numbers at this 
time of the year portends an early and severe winter. On arriving 
on the heights above Whitsand I found the sea beneath was 
comparatively smooth, for the wind blowing off the shore the bay 
was sheltered by the cliffs: gannets had taken advantage of this 
state of things, and a hundred or more were flying to and fro below 
me. It was a pretty sight, so I ensconced myself behind a jutting 
piece of rock and watched them. Beyond, on the horizon, a bank 
of blue-black clouds had gathered, and this, when the birds flew 
low, set off their snowy plumage with great intensity. They did 
not seem to be fishing eagerly, but flying more for sport than 
aught else; now and then, however, one would leave the rest, and 
descending with a tremendous rush, dashed the spray in showers each 
side of him as he disappeared beneath the sea: emerging in a 
second or two, with afew heavy Haps over the surface, he slowly 
got on wing and rejoined his companions. Among this party of 
old birds I observed an immature specimen, a circumstance I do 
not remember having noticed before. Off Cape Finisterre, at the 
mouth of the Tagus and in the Channel, I have often seen, during 
the winter months, immense flocks of old birds, but I cannot 
recollect ever having seen a young one amongst them. One day 
especially, I.can call to mind, when we were some twenty miles to 
