298 
ORNITHOLOGY OF THE MOOR. 
doubt, the Crane frequented Dartmoor. One was 
shot in 1826 on the borders, and there is a hill in 
the heart of the Moor having on its summit a pool 
of great size called Cranmere Pool, a name signify¬ 
ing the abode of Cranes, as though these birds had 
been in the habit of resorting thither, as is the 
practice of some other birds at present. The Thick- 
kneed Plover frequents the downs and wastes; and 
it would seem that some wintered with us and were 
driven to inclosed lands, as in severe winters they 
have been brought to Plymouth Market, where I 
have myself seen them, though rarely. In the 
summer months I have seen Curlews on the marshy 
grounds, where indeed they breed, but I presume 
the numbers killed on the coast in severe winters 
must be derived principally from the northern 
counties. It has been proved that many individuals 
of the Snipe family breed on Dartmoor, but it is only 
of late years that this fact has been observed. The 
same observation applies to the Duck , Wiyeon, and 
Teal according to report, though I can answer 
only for the Wild Duck , which unquestionably 
breeds in several spots on the Moor, besides in 
those situations in our cultivated grounds where 
care has been taken to protect it. The swamps of 
the Moor are also the breeding-places of many in¬ 
dividuals of several species of wading birds found 
in the autumnal and winter months on our cultivated 
lands and shores.* The Lapwing descends in flocks 
* This rule of the limitation of the waders to such spots during 
the breeding time, like most other rules of our formation on natural 
subjects, is arbitrary and open to exception. Curleivs have been 
known to breed on the shores of Falmouth and Plymouth Har¬ 
bours. Parties of Purses (a half dozen or more) are seen on our 
coast at times as late as the middle of May. Lapwings some times 
breed in our large open fields, and I believe also on the coast. 
