250 THE ZOOLOGIS!!. 
the 29th there was a tremendous gale from the E.N.E., with heavy 
showers of snow, notwithstanding which I observed a solitary Sand 
Martin arrive from sea, flying northwards; and the same afternoon 
many Wheatears made their appearance on the coast. 
On April 2nd there were some Golden Plovers in the market 
with completely black breasts; and on the same day I visited a 
Raven’s nest on the coast near Bovisand, in which were three 
young birds, fully fledged, looking nearly as large as their parents, 
who kept flying round, croaking, falling, and turning nearly over 
in the air in great excitement. I also watched a pair of Red- 
throated Divers, in full breeding plumage, swimming off the rocks 
in the Sound—rather a late date for them to remain in this locality. 
I may here remark that Red-throated Divers have become very 
scarce on our immediate coast within the last few years. 
On April 27th [I visited the cliffs at Wembury, and found all the 
Herring Gulls assembled at their usual nesting place, but observed 
only one nest. I have no doubt, however, that there were many 
others which could not be seen. There were some splendid Crested 
Shags, in full breeding plumage, on the rocks below, and many 
Kestrels about, but, I am sorry to say, no Peregrines. 
Half-a-dozen Swifts made their appearance on May Ist, hawking 
for insects rather high in the air over Stonehouse, and by the 
following day many flocks of Whimbrels had arrived on the banks 
of the River Lynher. I understand, however, that some were 
heard passing overhead nearly a week previously. On the 4th 
I remarked a White Wagtail, Motacilla alba, in a newly-ploughed 
field, and again paid a visit to the Raven’s nest, but found the 
young had flown. A dealer in live birds at Plymouth showed me 
a fine young Raven which had been sent from Cornwall, and told 
me that the coastguardsman, who had taken it when robbing another 
nest a few days afterwards, had fallen from the cliff and was killed 
on the spot. Six lives have already been sacrificed during the 
past month in taking the eggs and young of Ravens and Gulls— 
four on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, and two at St. Abb’s 
Head, on the coast of Scotland. By the way, I do not understand 
why the eggs of sea-fowl] are not protected as well as the birds 
themselves. The Lesser Black-backed Gulls by this date had 
almost all left for their breeding stations, and so had the Mews, 
but I do not know a nesting locality for either species on the 
coasts of Devon or Cornwall, certainly not within a great many 
