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THE ZOOLOGIST, 



in Devon. Mr. J. Young has met with it near Torquay in 

 spring. Mr. Pidsley writes of it there that it is of some- 

 what partial distribution, and from his own experience alone 

 he would consider it a scarce bird ; he adds, " it is never really 

 abundant in my own district." He quotes Mr. Rawson's opinion 

 that it is well distributed in both North and South Devon, espe- 

 cially the former ; also that of Mr. Mitchell to the same effect, as 

 to North Devon ; the latter observer, however, found its numbers 

 decrease in the centre and west of the county (' Birds of Devon,' 

 1891, p. 47). In August, 1886, I heard several in song in the 

 deep elm-shaded lanes about Croyd and Patsborough, and at 

 Berrynarbon, North Devon, and saw a hen bird at the last-named 

 place. The Cirl Bunting must be numerous in one locality in 

 South Devon, as live examples were advertised in ' The Bazaar,' 

 a few years ago, at Is. 6d. the pair! Mr. E. A. S. Elliot, of 

 Kingsbridge, South Devon, sends me the following interesting 

 notes : — " The locality where Montagu first obtained specimens, 

 Jacket or Thicket Wood, is just the same now as it was 100 

 years ago, consisting of an acre or two of gorse, hazel, and rough 

 uncultivated ground in close proximity to a few cottages and a 

 large quarry, which is still worked in consequence of the excellence 

 of the stone for building purposes." Mr. Elliot took a Cirl 

 Bunting's nest close to this spot nearly thirty years ago, the 

 eggs from which are still in existence. From fifteen years' 

 observation of the Cirl Bunting, he has arrived at the following 

 conclusions : — " That, although indigenous, it is distinctly 

 migratory, the local birds being largely augmented about the 

 middle of April by birds from the Continent. These birds, 

 the males, are distinctly brighter in colour than birds obtained 

 just previously in the neighbourhood. ... I find the Cirl Bunting 

 prefers the neighbourhood of the sea or estuary." 



Cornwall. — The late Mr. E. H. Rodd considered it " a 

 common bird, generally, in Cornwall, and particularly so in the 

 neighbourhood of Penzance." It has once occurred in the Scilly 

 Isles in December ('Birds of Cornwall,' pp. 52, 300). Montagu 

 mentions one in the collection of Colonel George, of Penrhyn, shot 

 near that place (near Falmouth). The Rev. M. A. Mathew tells 

 me : — "It is common throughout Cornwall. I have lately received 

 a nest and eggs from the neighbourhood of New Quay." Mr. 

 H. St. B. Goldsmith saw and heard it in April, 1891, in North 





