247 
ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM DEVON AND CORNWALL. 
By Joun GATCOMBE. 
Notwitrustanpinc the severe weather of the past winter some 
of the sea birds assumed their spring or breeding plumage 
unusually early. On January 5th I examined a Common 
Guillemot in full breeding dress, so far as colour was concerned, 
though many of the new feathers were perhaps not quite so long 
as they would have been had the bird been obtained a little later, 
their bases being still enveloped in their blue cases; but on 
January 16th I met with another in quite a perfect state. Razor- 
bills and Cormorants were also undergoing change, but were not 
so far advanced. By the 21st Herring Gulls were uttering their 
spring cry, but I do not think had yet attained their breeding 
dress. A Sclavonian Grebe, Purple Sandpiper, Turnstone, and 
Common Snipe were sent from Looe for preservation, the Snipe 
being supposed to be the first ever shot or seen on Looe Island. 
T also examined a Crested Grebe, killed on the Cornish coast, the 
stomach of which contained the remains of fish and a kind 
of coralline mixed up with the usual quantity of feathers. Grebes 
of all kinds are, I am sorry to say, getting very scarce, and only 
make their appearance during very severe weather. In our 
markets I observed large numbers of Wild Ducks, Widgeon, 
Teal, a few Brent Geese, and some Redshanks. ‘The last-named 
birds have become regular winter residents in this locality. Our 
birdstuffers received some immature Goosanders, Red-breasted 
Mergansers, and a Northern Diver, the last named unusually 
scarce last winter, and the same may be said of the Red-throated 
Diver, which is becoming more uncommon every year. 
On January 24th, wind east, with snow, and very cold, I 
visited Brent, about sixteen miles from Plymouth, where I met 
with the only Fieldfare I had seen for the season, and a few 
Redwings, which were also the first I had seen, although during 
the severe cold of last winter the towns were swarming with 
them. ‘The scarcity of these common winter birds has, I believe, 
been remarked throughout the United Kingdom. Lapwings were 
very numerous and remarkably tame, and I was pleased to see 
‘several Dippers and Grey Wagtails by the sides and on the large 
stones in the River Avon. 
