Lynmouth birds and the winter of 1916-17. 237


been differentiated; and that where the females alone, or in a few

cases the males alone, have retained a general resemblance to the

young, their plumage obviously points to an earlier date than when

both sexes have assumed a well-marked and more striking dress.


These ideas may have occurred to other bird-students, but

I have not seen them definitely expressed in print. Of course,

they have no value in the eyes of the systematise because colour

and pattern may be modified without any great change in structural

characters; but I think they are of interest as an indication of the

continual improvement in the world’s inhabitants. Our prehistoric

ancestors probably had little appreciation of beauty in Nature, and,

therefore, it would have been wasted upon them ; but to us who

can fully enjoy it, the glorious colouring of many birds, butterflies,

and blooms is a constant pleasure: so it is a cause for gratitude

that man is not the only living creature who delights in beauty,

for had that been the case sombre colouring might have prevailed

in Nature.



LYNMOUTH BIRDS AND THE WINTER

OF 1916-17.


By T. H. Briggs.


The effect of the winter of 1916-17 on bird-life here was

disastrous. Thrushes especially suffered; excepting one Mistle

Thrush ( Turdus viscivorus), singing on March 5th, not one of the

genus was seen or heard until November 19th, when a Song Thrush

(T. philomelus) was heard, and a Blackbird (T. merula), on the 22nd

and 23rd. During December, however, a few Song Thrushes were

heard and seen, all of which, when I could get near enough to identify

them, were T. philomelus clarkei.


None bred here, although for the last twenty years Thrushes

and Blackbirds have always built in our garden, and reared their

young. Of those found dead in the spring, all died of starvation,

and it was no use feeding them, as our house is close to the sea, and

the Herring Gulls on the water got the food first.


Robins, Hedge Sparrows, and Chaffinches almost entirely



