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SOME BIRD-NOTES FROM SOMERSET COAST. 

 By Stanley Lewis. 



On July 21st I visited Brean Down, that nose-like piece of 

 the Somerset coast which juts out for about two miles into the 

 Bristol Channel at Uphill, two miles south of Weston-super- 

 Mare : the River Axe, after running its course from the caves 

 of Wookey Hole, near Wells, where it first emerges from its sub- 

 terranean passages of the Mendip Hills, here empties itself into 

 the sea on the northern side of the Down, thus preventing it 

 being reached on foot from Weston, which, however, can be done 

 on coming up the coast-line in the opposite direction from Burn- 

 ham, but a ferryman is usually at hand, and for threepence 

 rows you the few yards over. 



The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds keeps a watcher 

 here, but owing to the war, I think the resident farmer's son, 

 Mr. Edgar Hawkins, keeps a good look-out for anyone taking 

 eggs or killing or taking birds. 



Ravens have nested here for many years, and this season four 

 young ones were hatched out, but unfortunatelj^ one liew into 

 the tide and was drowned, so that three only got safely off; the 

 Peregrines also hatched off safely with a complement of three : 

 both species nest in a very precipitous part of the cliffs facing 

 the sea near the fort, and although it would seem almost 

 impossible to get to the eyries, this feat before now has been 

 accomplished. 



Kestrels had young in the cliffs ; their cries could be heard 

 at feeding-times, when the old bird could be seen to rise over the 

 headland and skim back close down on the bracken. 



By far the commonest bird on the Down was the Wheat- 

 ear. This species was everywhere. At one spot where the 

 nettles and ragwort grew together, a pair of birds were 

 very noisy. I soon located four youngsters, hardly able to 



