THE ZOOLOGIST 



FOR 1860. 



Stray Notes from the Devonshire Coast. 

 By Henry Stevenson, Esq. 



A new field of observation has ever its attractions for the naturalist, 

 whether affording novelties for careful study or simply a repetition of 

 familiar forms, whose habits, varying somewhat according to the nature 

 of the locality, have still fresh interest for the close observer. Such, 

 at least, was my experience last spring, during a short visit to Torquay 

 and Teignmouth, and although, ornithologically speaking, that district 

 afforded little that might not be found also on our Norfolk coast, yet 

 even in the habits of some of the more common species, occasional 

 peculiarities not seen elsewhere, struck me as worth recording in a few 

 short notes. 



Gulls, divers and other sea birds, necessarily forming the chief objects 

 of attraction in such localities, I will for once reverse the general order 

 of things, and commence with the common gull. 



Common Gull {Larus canus). This species is here, as indeed on 

 most parts of our coast, extremely numerous, and is met with at all 

 times of the day on the river, being perhaps less of a sea gull than any 

 of its tribe, especially in its habit of frequenting fields far inland, 

 following the plough like rooks in search of worms and grubs. At 

 low water these birds collect in large quantities along the course of 

 the Teign, dispersing themselves in groups over the extensive sand- 

 banks left bare by the tide, and freely mingling with their sable com- 

 panions from adjacent rookeries, carrion crows and jackdaws, crowd 

 the waters edge in search of food. The stream at this time being too 

 shallow for the passage of boats, they are but little disturbed in their 

 researches, and from long habit are perfectly indifferent to the presence 

 of certain cockle-hunting females, who as regularly follow up the 

 retiring waters to rake the shell-fish from their sandy beds. On a clear 



XVIII. B 



