4G THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



B/OCk- Pipit. Anthus ohscums, Lath. 



[Eock-Lark, Sand-Lark : Dev.'] 



Eesident, common all along the coast, especially in the autumn, when 

 large flocks arrive. Breeds. 



Xever to be met far oft' from the sea-shore, where its monotonous call- 

 note is associated with the sounds only there to be heard, this species is 

 resident with us all the year, and may be seen passing with a jerky flight 

 from one rock to another, never very long resting in one place, and con- 

 tinually uttering its " chink, chink " of a cry. The nest, placed in some 

 cranny in the cliff, is difiicult to find : one we had in our possession we have 

 always regarded as a wonderful specimen of patience and industry on the 

 jmrt of the tinj^ architects ; it was taken on a small rocky island three 

 miles from land, and was thickly lined with horse-hairs. How many 

 times the Pipits must have flown backwards and forwards over these three 

 miles of water in procuring the materials for the nest I 



A large Pipit much greyer in colour than the ordinary Eock-Pipit, with 

 hardly any vinous colour on the breast, is seen in pairs in spring on the 

 south coast. A number of specimens of this variety were obtained at 

 Beer in Febuary 1S83, by Mr. Henry Swaysland, Jnr,, and some were 

 sent to us under the impression that they were AVater-Pipits (W. D'U., 

 Zool. 1883, p. 221). We saw a pair on the cliffs at Exmouth just 

 arrived, April 24th, 1891. 



A specimen obtained at Torquay, and sent to us by Mr. E. Burt, was so 

 very red that Mr. Gould, to whom we forwarded it, considered it had been 

 dusting itself in the red soil, but this was not the case. This bird is 

 recorded by him in his beautiful work on British Birds. Together with 

 other vinous-tinted Pipits obtained at Torquay, it probably belonged to 

 the variety rKjjestris, Kilsson. 



Large flocks have been observed on the coasts in autumn (G. F. M., 

 Zool. 1874, p. 4252 ; J. G., Zool. 1880, p. 47). 



Family ORIOLID^. 

 Golden Oriole. Oriolus galbula, Linn. 



A casual visitor in spring and summer of not very unfrequent occurrence, 

 especially in the South Haras. It is known to have bred in North Devon. 



Only one species of the handsome family of the Orioles is found in 

 this country, where its beauty has proved to it a fatal gift. There is no 

 doubt that if it could escape persecution the Golden Oriole would be a 

 regular summer migrant, nesting in limited numbers in our shrubberies; 

 but its brilliant plumage at once leads the person who has detected it to 

 rush off for a gun, and then we read in some local newspaper the notice ot 

 a rare bird having been obtained. Professor Newton says : — " If undis- 

 turbed, they would breed as freely in our woods and orchards as they do 



