3562 The Zoologist — June, 1873. 



Ornithological Notes from Devon and Cornwall. 

 By J. Gatcombe, Esq. 



(Continued from Zool. S. S. 3468). 



March and April, 1873. 



March 1. Weather raild, after a storm. Northern diver off the 

 Devil's Point, still in winter or immature plumage, most likely a 

 young bird of the year. Took a short walk into the country ; 

 observed a large number of chaffinches, in pairs, feeding amongst 

 the manure scattered over the fields. Sky larks and wood larks 

 plentiful, also in pairs, the males constantly rising and singing 

 joyfully in the air. Curlews plentiful and rather noisy on the mud- 

 banks of Weston Mill Creek. Large flocks of knots, a species 

 seldom seen in this locality after the autumn, have been observed 

 on the mud-flats of our rivers during the past winter. 



March 4. Saw Larus ridibundus with a perfectly dark head ; also 

 another on the 6th. A few days since an immature black redstart 

 was brought to a birdstuffer in Stonehouse : it was killed by an 

 oflScer, who supposed it to be a hedgesparrow with a red tail. 

 I recollect a poor man once picking up one which I had shot from 

 the rocks, and bringing it to me with the exclamation, "Master, 

 you have killed a fine firey cock linnick !" (meaning linnet). 



March 7. Heard two or three pairs of razorbills croaking loudly 

 off the Devil's Point, as they generally do towards the breeding- 

 season, but they were all in winter or immature plumage. Remarked 

 also a young glaucous gull and two black redstarts, one at the 

 Point and the other on the rocks near the Plymouth Citadel. Two 

 redthroated divers were killed in the Sound during the week, both 

 in winter plumage ; these birds, notwithstanding the late long- 

 continued gales, have been unusually scarce during the winter, 

 although the northern divers have been so plentiful. Several knots 

 are now exposed for sale in the Plymouth Market. 



March 8. Walked for some miles along the coast, and observed 

 a pair of ravens which were breeding near Bovisand, a guillemot in 

 perfect summer dress, some great blackbacked and herring gulls, 

 and a specimen of the water pipit {Anthiis spinoletta), which species 

 is rarely seen on the Devonshire coast. 



March 10. There were many razorbills about in pairs, but in 

 winter plumage, several lesser blackbacked and herring gulls and 



