3564 The Zoologist — Jone, 1873. 



March 24. Heard some nuthatches uttering their loud twittering 

 calls in the woods, and saw some chiffchaffs. Observed also a few 

 small flights of goldfinches, which are termed "blossom birds" by 

 the birdcatchers in the spring. 



March 26. Took a ramble on the coast beyond Bovisand. 

 Watched an oystercatcher feeding on the rocks, and remarked that 

 most of the cormorants had assumed the oval white spot over the 

 thigh, very conspicuous when the bird is flying, and sometimes 

 termed by the fishermen "the watch under the wing;" they also 

 appeared to have attained the crest, &c. Observed to-day another, 

 and 1 expect the last, black redstart for the season on the coast. 



March 31, Weather mild and misty; wind about south. Visited 

 Pew-tor and Vixen-tor on Dartmoor, near which I was much pleased 

 to see a fine pair of ring ouzels, which allowed me to approach 

 within twenty yards of them : these were the first I had seen for 

 the year, but upon asking a man who lived on the moor if he had 

 seen any, he told me that he had seen a solitary one on the 27th ; 

 and on further asking if he was quite sure that it was a ring ouzel, 

 his answer was, " Well, zur, I ought to know, living here for so many 

 years, and I zed to my boy, ' There ! there's one of them there ring 

 aisels, and if I had my gun I'd shut en vor my verret'" (ferret). 

 I also met with several flocks of fieldfares on the borders of the 

 moor flying towards the sea in a south-westerly direction. Wheat- 

 ears on the moor were numerous and large; indeed I have often 

 observed that the wheatears on Dartmoor seem to be larger and 

 finer in plumage than those which remain to breed nearer the coast ; 

 but this may be mere fancy on my part. During the past month 

 I have examined, at a birdstuffer's, a buzzard, raven, hooded crow 

 and hawfinch, all killed in the neighbourhood. The hooded crow is 

 but seldom seen in this part of the county. I have never known 

 blackbirds so plentiful as' they are this year, which, no doubt, is 

 owing to the Gun License — certainly not to the Wild Birds Pro- 

 tection Act, which I fear will do but little good, since the thrush 

 family, as well as many others, is not included in the Act, and boys 

 are still allowed to tear out nests, eggs and young with impunity. 

 On the first of May garlands and models of ships decorated with 

 flowers, ribbons and strings of birds' eggs are carried from door to 

 door through the streets of Plymouth, the eggs having been eagerly 

 collected expressly for the occasion during the preceding month j 

 and I well know that it used to be a custom among the London 



