XVlll GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION. 



The geographical position of the county is not ^ ithout its effect 

 on the Avifauna, and its coasts receive visitors arriving by several 

 of the great streams of migration from the north, east, and south- 

 east, whilst its proximity to the Continent on the south, and to 

 the Atlantic Ocean on the west, adds some interesting species to 

 the richness of its Fauna. Its diversified surface — bleak, barren 

 moorlands ; steep, rugged sea-coasts ; sand-hills ; extensive muddy 

 tidal estuaries ; freshwater '' leys " ; deep, sheltered *' coombes,^' 

 and wooded valleys, — offers attractions to birds of varying halnts 

 and predilections. The dependent Island of Lundy, off the north 

 coast, Avith its precipitous sides affords an advantageous breeding- 

 station for some sea-birds which we should not otherwise be able 

 to claim as residents for our county. AVith so many inducements 

 for migratory species to visit us, it is not surprising that Devon- 

 shire can boast of more species of birds than most other English 

 counties, being probably only exceeded by Yorkshire in the number 

 fairly included in its List. Three species — the Black-headed 

 Warbler, the Butt-backed Heron, and the Great Black-headed 

 Gull — have so far never been met with elsewhere in the British 

 Islands, and two out of the three British-killed Rufous AVarblers 

 have occurred in Devon. In the opinion of some authorities the 

 only occurrence of the Little Egret in Britain about which there 

 can be no doubt is the specimen killed on the estuary of the Exe 

 in :May 1870. 



The Western Boundary between Devon and Cornwall is marked 

 by the course of the Tamar for nearly its whole distance. This 

 fine river rises at Wooley Barrows, five miles south of Hartland iu 

 North Devon. It supplies the Bude Reservoir and runs out of it, 

 and after a winding course of fifty-nine miles flows into Plymouth 

 Sound by Mount Edgcumbe. In conjunction with its large 

 affluent the Tavy, which rises on the northern part of Dartmoor, 

 and has a course of twenty-three miles, and some small streams 

 and inlets of the sea on the Cornish side, it forms a magnificent 

 estuary, being tidal for seventeen and a half miles from the sea. 

 That portion lying between Saltash, on the Cornish side, and 

 Dcvonport is termed the Hamoaze. The river Plym, also rising on 

 Dartmoor, forms a lateral estuary called the Laira and Cattewater, 

 and discharges into Plymouth Sound just below the " Hoe."-' 



