The Zoologist — November, 1874. 4229 



called off by the old ones, which did not, as at the commencement 

 of the nesting season, fly round screaming close to our heads, but 

 mounting rather high in the air, seawards, commenced wheeling 

 and kept up an incessant cry until all the young birds which could 

 fly were enticed off and settled by themselves in flocks on the water 

 some distance from the shore. A hsv young ones, not yet able to 

 fly, were standing just outside their nests, but on seeing us soon 

 hid themselves in the holes and crevices of the rocks. When 

 watching the gulls we saw ten ravens, which flew by in one flock. 

 There were also many common buntings on the walls and hedges 

 in the vicinity of the cliffs. 



24lh. Several young herring gulls were fishing to-day in our 

 harbours and estuaries. 



August. 



16th. Swifts seen for the last time. These birds have been very 

 plentiful in the neighbourhood of Plymouth during the present 

 season. 



20th. A flock of six Cornish choughs were seen by a friend of 

 mine on the rocks at Morthoe, on the coast near Ilfracombe, North 

 Devon. 



27th. There were several flocks of Ray's wagtails, young and 

 old, in the meadows near the coast, which is generally the case at 

 this time of the year, before their departure for the winter ; there 

 were also many wheatears. 



29th. Observed a pair of grayheaded wagtails in a meadow 

 close to Plymouth ; but I have remarked that these birds seem to 

 prefer keeping by themselves, and on being disturbed generally fly 

 off in a different direction from the others. Observed a nightjar 

 this evening flying up a back street in Stonehouse, and, strange to 

 say, a few days since one was seen flying over the Plymouth 

 Market: these birds have probably been kept on the coast by the 

 recent heavy gales. A female ring ouzel, in deep moult, was killed 

 near Dartmoor. 



31st. Saw the grayheaded wagtail again. The male, although of 

 a fine yellow on the under parts, had a dark spot on the breast, 

 which I suspect is usual after the autumnal moult; the head was 

 pure gray, and the stripe over the eye and throat white. 



John Gatcombe. 



8, Lower Durnford Street, Stonehouse, Plymouth. 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. IX. 3 I 



