ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM DEVON. 1638 
birdstuffer’s shop one day I at once recognised the poor bird lying 
dead on the table. On examination I found that, as I suspected, 
it was an old bird in full winter dress. The stomach contained 
some crabs and a few stones, but no fish-bones. 
Shags were very plentiful in January, and it was astonishing to 
see the ease with which they dived in the midst of a tremendous 
surf amongst the rocks without the least injury; indeed I have 
sometimes seen them washed clean over the top of arock by a 
large wave. Many Gannets were obtained by the fishermen off 
Plymouth, either with a baited hook or the old plan of a board 
and fish; many also were washed ashore. 
On the 6th January a large Glaucous Gull was seen flying up 
the Hamoaze, and on the 14th of the same month I saw another: 
they were both in immature plumage. On the 15th there were 
immense flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwings on the Plymouth 
Racecourse, or Chelson Meadows, which are very swampy at this 
season of the year. The following day a Lesser Spotted Wood- 
pecker was killed near Plymouth. Great Black-backed Gulls 
were very numerous in our harbours and on the coast. 
On January 19th I observed two adult Swans flying up the 
River Tamar at a great height, and some days afterwards the 
following paragraph appeared in a Cornish paper:—“ Two wild 
Swans, perfectly white, were killed at St. Endellion on Monday, 
the 25th.” No doubt, the same birds seen by me. 
The Bartailed Godwit seldom remains with us during the winter, 
but one was shot near Plymouth on January 28th. On the 31st 
I bought a very fine Rough-legged Buzzard, in the flesh, which 
was shot on Ditsworthy rabbit-warren, Dartmoor, by the warrener’s 
grandson, a little boy about eight years of age, who killed a 
splendid old Snowy Owl at the same place in March, 1876. This 
buzzard was extremely fat, and its stomach contained the remains 
of a small rabbit; when shot it was in company with another bird 
of the same species. Rough-legged Buzzards, however, are rarely 
obtained on Dartmoor. 
I saw several immature Black Redstarts during the month 
of January, and I am told that some Gray Phalaropes were 
seen swimming off the quay at Penzance on the 25th of that 
month. 
In February many Great Northern Divers and a few Red- 
throated Divers. were brought to our birdstuffers; indeed the 
