A young white Spoonbill was recently shot, I believe on the River Tavy, and was to be seen with Mr. S. Hodge, of Ford Street, Tavistock, by whom it had been preserved. Jack Snipes made their appearance on Dartmoor unusually early this autumn. Two were killed on September 17th, and I saw others that were brought in a few days later.
Numbers of Knots and other small waders were observed on the Plymouth Breakwater; and I was glad to see some young Razorbills on the coast in the vicinity of Plymouth, they having become scarce within the last few years. Young Herons seemed to be plentiful this season : they were fishing among the rocks on the open sea-coast, and were in many rather out-of-the-way places. A pair of Buzzards which have nested for years in the woods of Kelly, on the banks of the Tamar, have this year reared a brood of four, and I am glad to say that the owner of the estate never allows his keeper to molest them. The Turtle Dove, a very uncommon species in that part of Devon, has also bred in the same locality.
The keeper at Wembury informs me that the Peregrine still frequents the cliffs of that neighbourhood, and related the following circumstance:—While watching some old and young Pheasants feeding, a Peregrine suddenly appeared to come out of a bush or thicket, seized and carried off a Pheasant before his eyes, and was over a bank and down among the cliffs before he could get the chance of a shot or even put the gun to his shoulder. He then told a somewhat similar story concerning a Sparrowhawk, which ended, however, in a different manner with the hawk. Having seen a Sparrowhawk glide swiftly along and suddenly alight, as he thought, on the other side of a hedge, he cautiously crept up and peeped over, when to his surprise he beheld the hawk on the ground amongst a lot of Pheasants, which he seemed to be eyeing intently, they keeping perfectly still and looking fixedly at him. After waiting some time and seeing no movement he resolved to kill the hawk, even at the expense of a Pheasant, and accordingly secured it, killing one Pheasant at the same shot.
