218 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



upon a single plant, and whatever it may be — winter kale, savoy, 

 broccoli, or what not — in a very short space nothing will be left 

 but the mere skeletons and ribs of the leaves, all the soft green 

 flesh having been entirely eaten off by the starving little 

 marauders. 



If on the mainland the avifauna of this county, in comparison 

 with some others, may be somewhat scanty, the difference is more 

 than compensated by the interesting species frequenting the 

 islands studding its coasts. On these the Buzzard, the Peregrine 

 Falcon, the Eaven, and the Chough are to be found nesting; and 

 in the summer time countless hosts of sea-fowl, including the 

 Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Kittiwake, Herring, and Lesser 

 Black-backed Gulls, Gannet, and the Green and Common 

 Cormorants. Skomer possesses the distinction of being, perhaps, 

 the island all round the British coasts most frequented by the 

 Manx Shearwater. It also affords a home to the Common Tern 

 and Stormy Petrel. Grasholme alone is occupied by the Gannets. 

 All the islands are tenanted by the Chough, which, together with 

 the Common Buzzard, has also several nesting-stations on the 

 cliffs of the mainland. Such birds as the Chough, Raven, 

 Gannet, and Manx Shearwater are sufficient to give an indi- 

 viduality to the bird records of the county, and to make it as 

 interesting to the naturalist as any other in Great Britain, 



I have prei^ared lists of birds which as yet I have been unable 

 to detect in the northern portion of the county. (1) Among 

 residents I find there are absent: Long-eared Owl, Tree Sparrow, 

 Hawfinch, Cirl Bunting, Dartford Warbler (this species surely 

 ouglit to be met with in a county so abounding in furze, and so 

 similar in many respects to Cornwall, wliere, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Truro, it is not uncommon). Wood Lark,* Nuthatch, 

 Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and 

 Stock Dove. (2; Among spring migrants I have not yet seen the 

 Ring Ouzel, Pied Flycatcher, Nightingale, Wood Wren, Garden 

 Warbler, Reed Warbler, Redstart, Ray's Wagtail, White Wagtail, 

 Wryneck, and Turtle Dove. The Blackcap is very rare. Of 

 the small soft-billed birds the Chiffchaff is by far the most 



• I may observe that the first autumn I was at Stone Hall (1880) 

 Wood Larks were common there, and that I have never seen any since ; I 

 thus conclude that these were only buds on passage, and that this district is 

 out of their usual Ihie. 



