Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/466

434 telegraph-wires which run along the sands, and had evidently just arrived from seaward; but none were seen at Exmouth till May 12th.

The observations in 'Birds of Devon,' alluded to by Mr. Warde Fowler, were made by myself, and I append records for thirty-four out of the fortysix years between 1852 and 1897 from my own note-books (made principally in Exeter or its neighbourhood, and at Exmouth); and also notes made by the late Mr. T.R. Archer Briggs at Fursdon, Egg Buckland, Devon, which were very kindly put into my hands by his brother, Colonel Briggs. My observations were unfortunately not continuous, as I was absent from England between 1856 and 1862, and between 1884 and 1888, and from 1867 to 1870, and in a few other years I was too much occupied to record any observations. It is curious to notice that whereas the dates of arrival in this neighbourhood used to be much earlier than those recorded by Mr. O.V. Aplin near Banbury, of late years they are later.