THE SOUTH HAMS. XXV 



smuU sheets of water lying close to the sea, abounding with birds, 

 and in winter are visited by large flights of wild-fowl. Some o£ 

 them have been drained and only occasionally contain water. 



A fine view of the whole of this district may be obtained from 

 the top of Brent Hill, on the southern border of Dartmoor. 

 Looking towards the sea the South Hams are spread out at our 

 feet. We see a well-cultivated fertile country divided into fields, 

 surrounded by leafy hedgerows, and diversified with Avoods and 

 plantations. Its surface is cut into deep "coombes^^ or valleys 

 by numerous small rivers taking their rise on Dartmoor, and 

 making their way to the English Channel, whilst the southern 

 portion is scooped out by Torbay, and deeply penetrated by 

 estuaries and arms of the sea at Dartmouth, Kingsbridge, and 

 Plymouth, whose muddy shores and sand-banks abound with 

 Waders, especially in autumn. 



The most southerly part between the Start Point and Bolt Tail 

 juts out into the Channel in a sort of promontory, and being but 

 80 miles north-west of the nearest part of the French coast. Cape 

 de la Hague, is often visited by rare birds, and receives the earliest 

 migrants in spring. At Start Point is the well-known Lighthouse, 

 a station of the British Association Migration Committee. 



Except in a few spots the coast is rocky, and the precipitous 

 cliffs of the Silurian and Devonian formations are breeding- places 

 for many birds, as the Martin, Raven, Jackdaw, Swift, Stock- 

 Dove, Ptock-Dove (?), Peregrine, Cormorant, Shag, and Herring- 

 Gull, and perhaps the Lesser Black-backed Gull and a few 

 Guillemots and Razorbills. 



Three large bays indent the coast-line, viz., Torbay, between 

 Hope's Nose and Berry Head ; Start Bay, between Froward Point 

 (Dartmouth) and Start Point ; and Bigbury Bay, between the 

 Bolt Tail and Stoke Point. These bays are frequently visited in 

 autumn by large numbers of Scoters, Terns, Gulls, Skuas, Divers, 

 and Grebes. 



In the country between Dartmouth and Plymouth the climate is 

 about the mildest that can be enjoyed anywhere in the British 

 Islands, the mean annual temperature being 51^°, and, near the 

 coast, oranges, lemons, and American aloes flourish and bloom in 

 the open air, and delicate exotics, such as pelargoniums, myrtles, 



6-2 



