BIRDS 



Harleian library at the British Museum. He gives a quaint list of some 

 of the birds, including domestic species, found in Devon. It is quoted 

 by Polwhele in his History of Devonshire. In the Gentleman's Magazine 

 for 1795 and 1796, Captain Laskey gives an account of a 'Three days' 

 excursion on Dartmoor,' in which he makes some allusions to the 

 ornithology, and describes Slapton Ley, mentioning the great abundance 

 of coots and wildfowl there. The Rev. Richard Polwhele's History of 

 Devonshire was published between 1793 and 1806. The first volume, 

 published in 1797 (after the and vol.), contains a chapter on the ' Land 

 Birds and Water-Fowl,' deriving his information from various friends in 

 the neighbourhoods of Plymouth and Ashburton. Next we have the 

 important papers by Colonel George Montagu of Kingsbridge, published 

 in the Transactions of the Linnean Society for 1804—8, containing his 

 observations on the cirl bunting, Montagu's harrier, hen-harrier, Dartford 

 warbler, and ' little white heron.' Colonel Montagu published his 

 Ornithological Dictionary in 1802 (a supplement was printed in Exeter in 

 1 8 1 3), and in it makes mention of many birds obtained, some for the first 

 time, in south Devon. Dr. Andrew Tucker of Ashburton commenced 

 a quarto work in 1809, entitled Ornithologia Danmoniensis, of which, 

 unfortunately, but two parts, containing a general introduction to the 

 study of ornithology only, were published. Prof. A. Newton considers 

 ' the two parts printed show the author to have been a physiologist, 

 anatomist, and outdoor-observer far beyond most men of his time.' Dr. 

 Tucker was a correspondent of Montagu, and assisted him in his 

 researches. Dr. William Turton and J. F. Kingston published a 

 ' Natural History of the District ' (Torquay, Dawlish, Teignmouth, and 

 inland to Dartmoor), in a Guide to the Watering Places (Teignmouth, 

 1830), with a list of birds arranged under three divisions — land birds, 

 waders and anseres. Dr. Edward Moore of Plymouth was the first to 

 attempt a systematic catalogue of Devonshire birds arranged according to 

 modern ideas, and published a treatise ' On the Ornithology of the South 

 of Devon,' in the Transactions of the Plymouth Institution for 1830, and 

 one ' On the Birds of Devonshire,' in The Magazine of Natural 

 History for 1837. The Rev. Thomas Johnes, rector of Bradstone, 

 contributed an excellent account of the birds found in the neighbourhood 

 of Dartmoor in the form of a letter, dated 1832, to Mrs. Bray, who 

 published it in 1836 in her work. Borders of the Tamar and Tavy. In 

 1837 the Rev. W. F. Cornish printed at Exeter a little treatise on 

 British Migrants, which was put forth as a feeler, prior to the proposed 

 publication of a larger work, ' the labour of thirteen years,' but which 

 never saw the light. In 1839 appeared a very interesting work. The 

 Natural History of South Devon, by J. C. Bellamy, surgeon, of Plymouth, 

 which contained much information about the birds of the southern 

 portion of the county, but is not free from the usual errors of the day. 

 The Rev. Samuel Rowe, vicar of Crediton, produced in 1848 The 

 Perambulation of Dartmoor, to which Dr. Edward Moore contributed a 

 list of the birds, which perpetuated numerous mistakes and did not add 



295 



