NOETH DEVON. XXXlll 



between Copplestone and Crediton^ by Puddington and Racken- 

 ford Moor to Anstey Hill on the border of Somerset ; on the 

 nortb-east^ Exmoor ; and on the north and north-west the Bristol 

 Channel. 



This tract of country is principally occupied by the culm-mea- 

 sures of the Carboniferous formation^ producing a heavy clay 

 soil^ most congenial to the growth of the oak^ but in the north- 

 eastern corner the Upper Devonian rocks are much developed. A 

 line of hills stretches from Morte Point to Exmoor on the north- 

 east^ whilst on the west another line reaches from Hartland Point 

 to Dartmoor. Between these two ranges lies a basin of cultivated 

 land watered by the Taw and the Torridge, presenting a marked 

 contrast to the wild uncultivated tracts of Exmoor and Dartmoor 

 on the north-east and south-west of it. The rock-bound coast 

 bordering the Bristol Channel is rugged and precipitous^ and 

 exposed to the full force of the winter storms from the north-west. 

 It is only indented by Barnstaple or Bideford Bay and the estuary 

 of the Taw and Torridge. 



The number of species of birds recorded from this portion of 

 the county is not quite so large as of those that have been met 

 with in the south. About 34 species have been obtained in the 

 rest of the county which have not yet been detected in the northern 

 portion. On the other hand^ eight or nine birds have occurred 

 there which have not been observed in the south^ and a few species 

 are more numerous in the north than in the south of the county. 



The Estuaries of the Taw and the Torridge. 



These two rivers unite at Appledore before joining the Bristol 

 Channel, and their combined estuaries form the only break in the 

 rocky coast, inviting migratory birds from the east and north passing 

 down the Bristol and St. George^s Channels to enter the northern 

 portion of the county. It is the district about Barnstaple that has 

 been the best worked in North Devon, as many excellent ornitho- 

 logists have collected here, and have recorded such species as they 

 met with in the ' Zoologist ' and other publications. In the 

 ' Zoologist-' for 1857 (p. 5345) we wrote as follows : — ''The situa- 

 tion of Barnstaple, and the country round it, is one peculiarly fitted 

 to attract any birds which may be straggling wcstwai'ds. We 



