272 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



of Mlllaton, near Bridcstosv, who is credited with so many other rare 

 birds, should have shot single specimens of both the lied Grouse and 

 Ptarmigan, and both in the month of October. As the lied Grouse has 

 occurred on the Mcndip in Somerset, and also in Wilts (Zool. 1885, pp. (50, 

 147), it is possible that the specimens above mentioned may have made 

 their way from South Wales across the Bristol Channel to Exmoor, and 

 from thence to Dartmoor and the South Haras, perhaps driven from their 

 usual haunts by severe weather or heavy snow. The Editor of the 

 'Zoologist' (1891, p. 235) states that about 1820-25 Mr. John Knight, 

 of Simonsbath (the father of Sir Frederic Knight, formerly M.P. for 

 Worcestershire), turned out several pairs of Ued Grouse on Exmoor. He 

 did not, however, succeed in establishing the species there. Possibly the 

 specimens killed in Devonshire may have strayed from Exmoor. On 

 the other hand, they may have been only young Elackgame, and not Ped 

 Grouse at all. 



With regard to the Ptarmigan, it a])pears in the highest degree im- 

 probable that a bird which, in the British Islands, is found only on some 

 of the higliest mountains iu Scotland, should occur in this county, and the 

 above record is probably based on some error.] 



Black Grouse. Tetrao tetrix, Linn. 



[Moor Blackbird, Heath Poult: Dev.'] 



Resident. At the beginning of the present century this fine bird was 

 abundant on most of the moors of the county. Some still exist on Dart- 

 moor, on the Haldon and Blackdown Hills, on the high ground in the 

 extreme eastern corner of the county, and on the moorlands in the north. 

 A few are shot yearly on the southern and western parts of Dartmoor. 

 There are also a few scattered birds on the eastern side, but they are 

 extremely shy and very difhcult to apjjroach. 



" Some few still remain on Dartmoor, where they breed in the turf 

 tyes. All attempts to preserve this beautiful bird are unsuccessful, the 

 great extent of the moor, while it is under the sole protection of a few 

 individuals, renders it impossible to defend them from the depredations of 

 the miners and turf-cutters who frequent the moor " (T. J,, Bray's ' Tamar 

 and Tavy,' 1st ed. 1836, i. p. 351). 



The I31ackcock is still a familiar bird on many of the moorlands 

 throughout Devonshire, his presence in the county being testified by the 

 " Heath Poult " Inns, one of them, on the road between Bampton and 

 South Molton, being a favourite fixture for the hounds. Throughout 

 Xorth Devon, on almost all the moory hills, a few Blackgarae may be 

 encountered, and they become numerous as the skirts of Exmoor are 

 approached. Between Barnstaple and the Eorest they are to be found at 

 Bratton, Bray, Charles, North Molton, Parracombe, and in the neighbour- 

 hood of Lynmouth ; also between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe, where we 

 have met with them in the parish of Bittadon, and one year knew of a 



