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ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM DEVON AND CORNWALL. 



By John Gatcombe. 



On September 3rd, during a trip up the river Tamar, where 

 few waders but Herons and Curlews were to be seen, I was 

 much interested in watching the struggles of a Cormorant with a 

 large fish on a mud-flat near the river, which it must have just 

 caught, or possibly found left dry by the tide, but had the greatest 

 difficulty in killing and swallowing. This was the first time 

 I ever saw a wild Cormorant kill and eat a fish out of the water. 



On Sept. 5th a Fork-tailed Petrel, Procellaria leucorrhoa, was 

 picked up dead by a rural postman on the road near Cargreen, 

 a village close to the Tamar. Its occurrence inland was no 

 doubt due to the terrific gale which took place on the 1st of that 

 month. It appeared to be a bird of the year, and in a most 

 interesting state of change, the new dark slate-coloured feathers 

 on the wings and other parts of the body contrasting strongly 

 with the old rusty brown and weather-worn plumage of the 

 previous season. 



By the 8th September some Common Eedshanks were to be 

 seen in the markets, and a very young Black Grouse, which latter 

 was no doubt bred on Dartmoor. A day or two afterwards, on 

 my way to Exeter, I observed on the mud-banks of the rivers 

 Teign and Exe many Herons and large numbers of Black-headed 

 Gulls, both old and young. On the 13th quite a flight of Titlarks 

 seem to have arrived on the coast, all in very bright and newly- 

 moulted plumage. I noticed also some Cormorants, with white 

 breasts and bellies, flying overhead, in which stage of plumage 

 I have often remarked them in the autumn, and have no doubt 

 that such birds are the supposed Northern Divers occasionally 

 mentioned as having been seen standing bolt upright on the rocks. 

 On the 24th numbers of Wheatears appeared on the coast, after 

 a strong gale from the N.E. during the previous night, and large 

 flocks of Scoters, CEdemia nigra, I was informed, were to be seen 

 in Start Bay. 



On October 1st I heard of a white Spoonbill having been 

 killed by a wildfowl- shooter on the St. Germans river, and sent 

 to Mr. Vingoe, of Penzance, for preservation. This river seems 



