1460 The Zoologist — November, 1868. 



Solitary Snipe, Montagus Harrier, Osprey, $-c., at Barnstaple. — Several interesting 

 birds have been ubtained iu this neighbourhood within the last few weeks. Crossbills, 

 which seem to have occurred generally throughout the country this summer, have been 

 tolerably plentiful here, and there are at least a dozen, in different stages of plumage, 

 in our birdstuffer's shop, and he tells me many more have been shot: a few of these 

 birds have likewise been killed in the south of Devon, in the vicinity of Kingsbridge. 

 After the heavy westerly gales we had, about four weeks ago, three little auks were 

 picked up dead on the banks of the Taw between Barnstaple and Instow; only one of 

 these was preserved, and is a young bird of the year. I have not heard whether any 

 guillemots or razorbills were washed up on the coast of Barnstaple Bay ; but if the 

 weather was severe enough to cause the death of the auks, it is to be presumed that 

 these birds would not have escaped : I recollect a few years ago, after a heavy gale, 

 they were thrown up in hundreds — in fact, there was quite a high-water mark of them. 

 A few days after this I picked up a Leach's petrel on Braunton Burrows: it is strange 

 that these birds, whose very home is on the sea, should be so soon affected by rough 

 weather. At Parracombe, last week, a solitary snipe was shot; it was a male, weighing 

 seven and a half ounces, and from its appearance I should say was a young bird: 

 a day or two after a second was killed in the same locality, so it is possible they may 

 have been bred there, though I do not think it probable. The country around Parra- 

 combe is very wild and mostly moorland, iuterspersed with small woods of oak and 

 birch, with numerous grassy swamps. If these birds were migrating they were a long 

 way to the westward of their usual course of flight: this species, although not un- 

 common in the eastern counties during the beginning of autumn, is with us in Devon- 

 shire looked on as a rarity. The next species I have to notice is Montagu's harrier: 

 this bird has bred this year in our neighbourhood, and the young, I am sorry to say, 

 have been taken by, and are now in possession of, a gamekeeper, who has, I am afraid, 

 also shot both the old birds. Three others have been shot and preserved, hut I have only 

 seen one of them— a young bird ; the other two (which I suspect weie the parents of 

 the young ones just alluded to) were sob! before I arrived here: I have not yet seen 

 the keeper who procured them, so have not been able to ascertain the position or locadiiy 

 of the nest. The next and finest species to record is the osprey, a magnificent specimen 

 of which was shot last week in the Braunton marshes : it is a male bird, and is, 

 I believe, the first that has been observed here. I am sorry to add that several pere- 

 grines have been killed or their nests robbed : I am sadly afraid that, in the course of 

 a year or two, this splendid falcou will come to be reckoned among the things that 

 were, unless our landowners take the matter up and give orders that this and other 

 fast-disappearing species are not to be killed up in the ruthless manner they are: 

 a few could do no great harm; on the contrary, they would tend to improve the 

 appearance of any one's property, for I am sure every one will agree with me in saying 

 there is no finer sight to witness than a peregrine in graceful flight, or in its grand 

 rush as it strikes down its prey, or to watch the windhover motionless against a clear 

 sky; and this latter comparatively harmless little bird is as much persecuted by 

 the ignorant gamekeeper as the largest falcon. — Gervase F. Mathew; Barnstaple, 

 September 28, 1868. 



Solitary Snipe on Dartmoor. — When shooting on Dartmoor, in a gale of wind and 

 rain, on the 28th of September, 1 was fortunate enough to flush and bag a very fine 

 specimen of the solitary snipe (Scolopax major). My brother sends me word of 



