INTRODUCTION. XIU 



Although a work on the ' Birds of Devonshire ' has already been 

 issued by Mr. W. E. H. Pidsley, it did not seem so thoroughly to 

 exhaust the subject as to exclude another which should deal more 

 fully with the numerous points of interest in the County Ornis. 

 Directly the Authors began to consult on their project they at once 

 perceived that it would be necessary to cover a somewhat wider 

 field than the one to which that gentleman and his able editor, 

 the E,ev. H. A. Macpherson, had restricted themselves, if they 

 were to produce anything more than a mere catalogue ; for 

 Devonshire forms but the central portion of the South-west 

 Peninsula, and the migrations of birds, especially, can hardly be 

 understood unless the adjoining counties to the east and west be 

 considered with it. Some interesting facts bearing upon the 

 preference of certain of the Ducks for the more opaque waters of 

 the Bristol Channel have thus been brought to light ; and the 

 differences between the opposite portions of the county itself in 

 their summer migrants, in the classes of the rare accidental visitors 

 which either may expect to receive, as well as in the shore-birds 

 which winter on the south while they desert the northern estuaries, 

 have become apparent. 



Devonshire has been the home of many eminent ornithologists, 

 and although the existing books upon its birds are few, the litera- 

 ture bearing upon them is somewhat bulky, owing to the numerous 

 county and local lists, and the many fugitive notes which have been 

 supplied to the Transactions of learned societies. Guide-books, 

 Magazines, Newspapei's, &c, during the last century — some of 

 them of interest and importance, of Avhich the Authors have availed 

 themselves, while many others of equal value have doubtless 

 perished. They have naturally made use of their own notes, com- 

 municated in bygone years to the * Zoologist,^ which for half a 

 century has furnished a storehouse for ornithological occurrences 

 reported from every part of the kingdom ; as also of information 

 supplied them by numerous friends and correspondents — many 

 of these, alas ! no longer with them, such as those whose names 

 have been already mentioned : and they have received much 

 help from others — younger naturalists — who arc keeping a close 

 watch upon their respective districts, and may make their acknow- 

 ledgments in the north of the county to the Rev, II. G. Heaven, 



