G8 THE BIEDS OF DEVON. 



visitant, making its appearance in September and October, and leavinq; 

 again for the north in April. In the winter we may meet with it in 

 companj' with Tits and Siskins engaged in searching alders and birches 

 for food. AVe have onh' once or twice seen it in the spring in Worth 

 Devon, while around Taunton it was far more common, a little flock 

 generally visiting our garden each spring and remaining with us for some 

 weeks. It has been known to nest both in Dorsetshire and Somerset, but 

 is reported as being very rare in Cornwall. 



The Lesser lledpoll was numerous near Topsham from September to 

 December 1854, and again in 1862 and 1868. The small flocks which 

 we observed in those years fed exclusively on the seeds of the birch, 

 remaining day after day on the same trees close to our house. Mr. 11. 

 Cumming, however, informs us that he has often seen Redpolls near 

 Exeter in winter, and that it feeds on the seeds of the alder. 



Dr. E. Moore found it " rather rare " near Plymouth in flocks about 

 alder-trees (Trans. Plym. Inst. 1830, p. 312). Mr. Bolitho received one 

 from Dr. AVhipjile, of Plymouth, on October 8th, 1859, and this is the 

 only specimen we can find mentioned in his MS. Memoranda of birds sent 

 to him for preservation from 1852 to 1872. 



Some occurred in February 1844 at Topsliam, and Mr. E. "W. L. Ross 

 says " it visits the banks of the river every season in small flocks, feeding 

 on the seeds of the rushes washed in by the tide" (MS. vol. iv. p. 10). 

 An old gunner, Richard Hall, however, informed us in 1854 that he had 

 not seen any for thirty years, and then he saw some on the bench at 

 Topsham. The Lesser Redpoll has not been obtained in the Kings- 

 bridge district, but Mr. E. A. S. Elliot thinks he saw some at Milton 

 Ley in December 1890. It is only a chance winter visitor to North 

 Devon, Mr. Howard Saunders, in his ' Manual of British Birds,' p. 183, 

 gives it as " a very local breeder " in Devon, probably on the authority 

 of the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, who " observed an old Redpoll feeding 

 a newlv-fledged nestling on the branch of an ash, near Lynton, in July 

 1879 "" (Pidsley's ' Birds of Devonshire,' p. 44). 



Twite, Linofa flavii'osfris (Linn.). 



A casual visitor of very rare occurrence in South Devon, where the 

 only known instances are not well authenticated, but not unfrequently 

 seen in the northern part of the county. 



It is included in Dr. E. Moore's " List of Dartmoor Birds" in Rowe's 

 ' Perambulation of Dartmoor,' 1st ed., 1848, p. 230; and in his "Cata- 

 logue of Passerine Birds of Devon" in ' Magazine of Natural History,' n. s. 

 i. !>. 176 (1837), he says : "In Devon, according to Polwhele, in his 

 ' History of Devonshire.' Two in Bolitho's collection." Dr. Moore is 

 followed by Bellamy, Brooking-Rowe, and Parfitt, who say " rare," or 

 "scarce," without giving any particulars as to its occurrence. 



Flocks used to visit North Devon in autumn and winter. We have 

 seen them on Northam Burrows and on the side of the North Walk 



