2SG THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



away to sea. Along the shore there "was a great deal of shooting, and 

 probably about 15U or 2()0 Coots were secured, some by those who shot 

 them, but as often as not by the swarm of grabbers who waded out after 

 birds fallen in the water, and many an amusing scene took place between 

 irate gunners and some of these gentrj-. At least 100 birds were picked 

 up by these same people on the western side of the Ley, where they had 

 no business to be ; arid it was expected that from 100 to 150 birds would 

 be retrieved next day amongst the reed?, as the boats had not time to 

 gather them all. In all, Mr. Elliot calculated that there must have been 

 killed and gathered 1700 Coots, and about 50 Ducks of different species, 

 as the result of this day's shoots. We learn that, notwithstanding the 

 slaughter on this occasion, the Coots are almost as numerous as ever on the 

 Ley, and the thinning out of the old stock has improved the health of the 

 survivors, as three years since great numbers died from epizootic disease. 

 A large portion of the Coots at Slapton Ley are migratory, and those 

 found there in winter are mostly " foreigners," which arrive from other 

 pai'ts in the autumn, and after severe weather their numbers always 

 increase (W. Y. T.). 



Order ALECTORIDES. 



Family GRUID^. 

 THE CRANES. 



Formerly ornithologists placed the Cranes among the 

 Herons, but they differ from those birds, whose young are 

 hatched nearly naked, in having their nestlings covered with 

 down, and able to run about, when they leave the shell, 

 thus coming nearer to the Bustards and Plovers. They 

 also differ considerably in structure and in habits from 

 the Herons, and their eggs, instead of being blue, like 

 those of the Herons, are olive, as are those of the Bustards, 

 Besides the Common Crane, which is now-a-days a very 

 rare straggler to England, three other species of Crane, 

 the Demoiselle Crane [Gru.s virgo), the Balearic Crane 

 (BalearicajMvonina), and the Siberian Crane (Grus leucoger- 

 anus), have been met with at large in the United Kingdom. 

 An example of the Demoiselle Crane was reported in the 

 'Zoologist' (1876, p. 4928) as having been picked up 

 dead on the banks of the river Cale, near Wincanton, 



