52 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM DEVON AND CORNWALL. 
By Joun GATCoMBE. 
On the 10th September the harbour was full of young and old 
Herring Gulls with many Black-headed Gulls amongst them, the 
latter having lately arrived from their breeding stations. Three 
Curlew Sandpipers that were killed from a flock of about fifty were 
sent up from the neighbourhood of Wadebridge, Cornwall, about 
the same time. They were young birds of the year, with a rather 
strong tinge of buff pervading the under plumage. I once saw a 
compact flock, consisting of more than a hundred, flying across the 
mud-banks of the River Lynher, near St. Germains, the species 
being easily distinguished by the white upper tail-coverts. Very 
small parties or single birds are, however, more generally met with, 
either alone or in company with Dunlins and Ring Plovers. Some 
young Knots and Common Redshanks were also shot about the 
same time in our estuaries. Wheatears were then plentiful on 
the coast. 
Visiting Northmoor, Somerset, during September, I found the 
Common Bunting rather numerous in that neighbourhood, quite a 
flock of them roosting nightly in a thick row of pollard willow trees 
skirting a “drove” in the centre of the moor. Indeed | do not 
think I ever observed what may be called a “ flock” of the Common 
Bunting before. 
On the 4th October J am almost certain that I saw amongst a 
party of Long-tailed Tits one with a white head,—a variety, I 
believe, not uncommon in some parts of the Continent,—and a few 
years since, strange to say, | remarked another in the same locality, 
which was duly recorded at the time in ‘ The Zoologist’ (1872, 
p. 2943). Bewick mentions that there was a variety of the kind 
in the Wycliffe Museum. 
The last Swallows were seen by me on October 15th, the day 
after the great gale, and on the 16th a single Martin was observed 
hawking about during a hail-storm. A white Swallow was seen in 
September. Swifts left the neighbourhood of Plymouth very early 
this season, and Swallows were by no means plentiful, which has 
been the case for the last few years. Swifts are decidedly on the 
increase. 
