4568 THE ZooLocist—Aveust, 1875. 
Ornithological Notes from Devonshire, Cornwall, &c. 
By JoHN GatcomBE, Esq. 
(Continued from S. 8. 4491.) 
May, 1875. 
Ist. There are still a great many lesser blackbacked gulls in our 
harbours, although some have left for their breeding quarters. 
I saw some martins and a spotted flycatcher this morning. A 
lesser spotted woodpecker was brought to one of our birdstuffers, 
which had been killed in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. 
8rd. Observed a flight of wheatears on the coast, apparently only 
just arrived ; they were in very perfect summer plumage: one fine 
old male had its wings quite black and the lower parts almost pure 
white, with only a shade of buff under the chin and beginning of 
the breast; the colour of the back, too, was of a much purer gray 
than usual. One of these birds caught and swallowed whole a large 
specimen of Ligia oceanica, a woodlouse-looking creature frequently 
seen running about on the rocks by the sea-side: the black redstart, 
too, occasionally feeds on these creatures. Several more whimbrels 
arrived on the coast this morning. 
5th. Heard the garden warbler. 
9th. Observed the first swifts. 
10th. Again visited the breeding place of the herring gulls at 
Wembury, and saw one sitting on three €Bgs. After watching the 
gulls for some time my attention was attracted by loud croakings 
and a kind of chattering in the air, and on looking round I saw a 
peregrine falcon being vigorously attacked by a raven, one of a pair 
breeding near the spot; the falcon, however, did not seem to mind 
its buffeting much, but after a bit of a “spar,” sheared off, hotly 
pursued by an irate herring gull, to the other side of the river,— 
nevertheless, returning in a few minutes, when the strife was 
renewed until the bold intruder took its departure to a perch on 
the cliff, some little distance from the breeding stations. 
11th. Observed the common sandpiper and many more swifts on 
the coast. 
14th. Visited Rhame Head, in Cornwall, a few miles from 
Plymouth, where I found the herring gulls breeding plentifully on 
the cliffs close by. A pair of common buzzards, too, had a nest, 
I think, not far off, judging from the continual noise they made. 
