A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



a cormorant, with a conspicuous white collar 

 round its neck, was seen on the rocks at 

 Wembury near Plymouth. 



138. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacro- 



corax graculus (Linn.) 

 Locally, Green Cormorant, Crested Shag, 

 Shoalster (N. Devon). 

 On the south coast the shag is not so plenti- 

 ful as the cormorant to the east of the Teign, 

 but to the west of that river it is even more 

 numerous. At Plymouth it is not seen in 

 any numbers before the commencement ot 

 the usual November gales. On the Exe it 

 is rarely seen and only after great storms. It 

 ascends the Taw as far as the tide flows, as 

 high as Barnstaple. The shag never visits the 

 inland streams like the cormorant, though it 

 is sometimes driven ashore by stormy weather. 

 It breeds freely on Lundy Island, and in large 

 numbers on the cliSs between the Bolt Head 

 and Bolt Tail in April and May. 



139. Gannet or Solan Goose. Sula bassana 



(Linn.) 

 Locally, Channel Goose (N. Devon). 

 Lundy Island was formerly the great breed- 

 ing place of this fine bird, being the only one 

 in England. Gannets had bred there from 

 time immemorial on the ' Gannet Rock,' but 

 having been constantly harried by the channel 

 pilots, who plundered their nests in the breed- 

 ing season, they migrated to Lundy itself, 

 where however they did not escape persecu- 

 tion, and there are now but a few pairs left. 

 Herring gulls are said to have largely con- 

 tributed to their decrease by destroying their 

 eggs. Adult birds are common off the coasts 

 during the greater part of the year, some- 

 times approaching the shore in large numbers 

 in the winter months in pursuit of pilchards, 

 herrings and sprats. Immature birds in their 

 dark-grey, white-spotted plumage are some- 

 times driven into the Kingsbridge estuary by 

 stormy weather, and are picked up in an ex- 

 hausted and dying condition. Two nestling 

 birds in the Albert Memorial Museum at 

 Exeter are said to have been taken from the 

 cliffs between Exmouth and Budleigh Salter- 

 ton about 1861. 



140. Common Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 

 Locally, Heme, Erne, Crane. 



Fairly numerous, frequenting the estuaries 

 of our rivers, inland ponds and streams, the 

 sea coasts and occasionally the Dartmoor Ijogs. 

 There are heronries at Shute Park near Ax- 

 minster, Killerton near Exeter, Powderham 

 Park on the Exe, Sharpham on the Dart, 

 Totnes, Believer on Dartmoor, Halwell Woods 



and Ilton Castle on the Kingsbridge estuary, 

 Aunemouth on the Avon, Little Orcherton 

 Wood at the mouth of the Erme, Warleigh 

 on the Tamar, Kitley near Yealmpton, Fre- 

 mington and Arlington Court near Barnstaple, 

 and Pixton Park near Dulverton. 



141. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, hinn. 

 The A&ican Heron of Montagu. 



An accidental visitor of very rare occur- 

 rence. Four or five examples, all in im- 

 mature plumage, are reported to have been 

 obtained, and two others seen in south- 

 western Devon. One was shot near Ave- 

 ton Gifford, and was figured by Bewick in 

 his work on British Birds. Another was 

 knocked down by a waggoner with his whip, 

 when he was passing over Whitechurch Down, 

 in January 1832. Yarrell mentions a speci- 

 men shot near Plymouth in February 1839. 

 The Rev. W. S. Hore obtained a female from 

 Pincombe of Devonport, and stated that he 

 had ' closely inspected the body immediately 

 after the bird was skinned.' The last and 

 best authenticated occurrence is that recorded 

 by the late Mr. J. Gatcombe, who purchased 

 a specimen he saw hanging up in a poulterer's 

 shop in Stonehouse, and which had been shot 

 on the Tamar 30 October 1857. 



[Montagu mentions in the supplement to his 

 Ornithological Dictionary that the Rev. Kerr 

 Vaughan, rector of Aveton Gifford, thought 

 he had seen a great white heron {A. alba) on 

 the Avon in the autumn of 1805. It con- 

 tinued within the range of a few miles for 

 two months, but its extreme wariness disap- 

 pointed the many attempts made to shoot it.] 



142. Little Egret. Ardea garzetta, Linn. 

 An accidental visitor of extremely rare 



occurrence. An adult male was shot on the 

 Exe near Topsham in May 1870, and Mr, 

 Howard Saunders says in his Manual of 

 British Birds that, as far as he can learn, 

 it is ' the only example about which there 

 can be no doubt ' that it has occurred in the 

 British Islands. Yarrell mentions an imma- 

 ture bird shot on the Dart in 1816, and Dr. 

 E. Moore another, said to have been obtained 

 near Crediton. Mr. J. Brooking Rowe speaks 

 of 'one or two on the Tamar,' on the 

 authority of Dr. Moore. 



143. Buff-backed Heron. 

 Audouin. 



Ardea bubulcus, 



The little white heron of Montagu was 

 this bird in immature plumage. This is 

 another species of heron of which as far as 

 is known but one well authenticated British- 

 killed example exists. An immature female 



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