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THE BIRDS OF SCILLY. 

 By James Clark, M.A., D.Sc, and Francis R. Rodd, J. P. 



(Concluded from p. 306.) 



The Water-Rail is a common bird in autumn and winter, 

 but does not breed. In some years — as in 1863, 1869, 1886 — 

 it is extraordinarily abundant on the exposed moors of St. 

 Mary's, St. Martin's, and Tresco, in thick furze everywhere, 

 in the orchards at St. Mary's, and on the trees in the Abbey 

 Gardens. Moorhens first became conspicuous in the early 

 fifties, when reeds were planted by the Abbey ponds. Previous 

 to that time they had been noticed on autumn migration, 

 and one specimen had been killed in April or May, 1841. 

 They soon became common, and before 1860 bred regularly 

 at Tresco, and occasionally at St. Mary's. In 1903 they 

 were breeding freely round the Abbey pools, and in some 

 numbers at St. Mary's, while two nests were found on Tean. 

 The Coot was formerly a somewhat scarce and irregular winter 

 visitor, but in the autumn of 1859 arrived in such numbers that 

 as many as a hundred could be counted on4he Abbey pools at 

 one time. The following spring two or three pairs remained to 

 nest, and from that time onwards a few seem to have bred every 

 year. They are usually common throughout the winter, especially 

 on Tresco, and are frequently noticed in the autumn coming in 

 on St. Mary's. 



A fine example of the Common Crane was shot on the north 

 side of the Long Pool, Tresco, on April 13th, 1881, by David 

 Smith, who had watched it coming in from the south-west. In 

 the winter of 1881 a bird was flushed several times on St. Mary's 

 Moors, that was thought to be a Little Bustard. It was of the 

 right size, and rose like a Curlew. The first recorded example 

 of the Stone Curlew was shot on Bryher in December, 1878 ; a 

 second was obtained in 1879, and a third by Joe White on May 

 10th, 1890. The Ringed Plover is abundant on most of the 



