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THE BIRDS OF CORNWALL. 



By JAMES C]vARK, D.Sc, M.A., A.R.C.S. 



No systematic catalogue of the birds of the county has been 

 attempted since the publication of Eodd's " Birds of Cornwall," in 

 1880. Many changes have taken place in the Cornish fauna since 

 that time, but the general ornithological record for this long inter- 

 val is very disappointing. Two papers by Smart on the Birds of 

 Scilly in the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and 

 Antiquarian Societ}', the references to Cornish Birds in D' Urban 

 and Mathews' Birds of Devon, a number of notes by T. Cornish, 

 J. Gratcombe, and others in the Zoologist, and the records of rare 

 and accidental visitants in the second edition of Harting's " Hand- 

 book of British Birds '' are the principal contributions to the 

 literature of the subject during the last twenty-two years To 

 this scanty material I have been able to add considerably from the 

 systematic observations, local lists, jottings, recollections and 

 specimens so generously placed at my disposal by many bird-lovers 

 throughou-t the county and elsewhere, and from the valuable mass 

 of ornithological data collected during the past two years by the 

 members of the Cornwall Nature Study Society. Without such 

 assistance this attempt to draw up an annotated list of the Birds 

 of the County could not have been undertaken, as a personal 

 record over such a large area is unsatisfactory for common birds 

 and impossible for rare ones. To each and all of my helpers and 

 co-workers I tender my sincere thanks with the hope that at 

 some future time I may have a fitting opportunity to make more 

 detailed acknowledgment. 



When I began my present task the intention was to write 

 a supplement to Eodd's "Birds of Cornwall." As the work 

 proceeded, however, I found this idea of a supplement somewhat 

 impracticable, so partly on this accou.nt, partly for the sake of the 

 many bird-lovers both old and young who have no chance of 

 consulting Eodd's book, I re-cast the list in an independent form 

 and made it fairly complete in itself by the incorporation of the 

 most important occurrences of rare birds given by Eodd. I have 



