The Zoologist— March, 1874. 3909 



Cinereous Shearwater (Puffinus cinereus). — One caught in the 

 bay in 1860. Several have since been procured, but it can only 

 be regarded as a rare visitant, 



A. VON HiJGEL. 



Chelstone Cross, Torquay, 

 February 11, 1874. 



Ornithological Notes from Devonshire, Cornwall, 8fc. 

 By John Gatcombe, Esq. 



(Continued from S. S. 3829). 



December, 1873. 



1st. There were several great northern divers in the Sound, and 

 I observed some men chasing one in a boat, at which they had five 

 shots, but I am glad to say did not kill it ; many young herring gulls, 

 however, fell to their guns. Shags are plentiful along the coast now ; 

 and this morning I saw one with a very large fish, which it had 

 caught close to the rocks, and had great difficulty in swallowing. 

 Large flocks of starlings were continually flyiug across the Sound 

 from the east and going west. 



3rd. Saw a fine old male black redstart on the cliffs near Bovi- 

 sand, which had a very dark breast and conspicuous white patch 

 on the wings. 



6th. Approached within a few yards of a male cirl bunting 

 perched on a bush, and which was singing as loudly as ever I heard 

 one in spring. I mention this as there was a paragraph in the 

 'Zoologist' (S. S. 3772), by Mr. T. A. Briggs, on the autumnal 

 song of the cirl bunting. 



6th. There were several bartailed godwits in the Plymouth 

 Market : this species is seldom observed in our neighbourhood after 

 the autumn. This morning I observed a blackbird in the garden 

 intently engaged in picking a bone which had been left by one of 

 our dogs. 



7th. Was much interested in watching a large northern diver 

 washing and dressing its plumage on the water, about a hundred 

 yards from the shore, every now and then throwing itself almost 

 completely on its back during the process. 



SECOND series — VOL. IX. P 



