186 Arrival of Summer Birds at Carlisle. 



shrike is very rare in the vicinity of Carlisle : indeed, this is 

 the only specimen we have ever yet seen that has been killed 

 in this district : we have, however, been informed that a few 

 breed occasionally in the neighbourhood of Keswick. 



Brown, or Grey, S?iipe (Scolopax grisea), n. 106. — A spe- 

 cimen was shot on Rockcl iff Salt Marsh, on Sept. 25., during 

 a very high tide, which covered the whole of the marsh, with 

 the exception of a few small elevated patches scattered here 

 and there, on one of which the bird was observed busily 

 feeding, and picking up insects, &c, with amazing rapidity. 

 It proved to be a young female of the year, and was in good 

 condition ; the stomach was filled with the elytra of several 

 small coleopterous insects : no other individual was seen. 

 This species is most unquestionably one of the rarest of the 

 British birds ; and we can only find two other instances of its 

 having been met with in this country. The first is stated by 

 Montagu, in his Ornithological Dictionary, to have been killed 

 on the Devonshire coast, in the month of October ; the other* 

 is said to have been obtained in the vicinity of Yarmouth, by 

 Gould, in his magnificent work on the birds of Europe ; and 

 it is rather a singular circumstance, that these specimens 

 were all in different states of plumage ; the first, a male, 

 being in its winter livery, the second in its nuptial dress, and 

 the third in that of adolescence. 



Douhle-fork-tailed Sandpiper (Tringa miniita), n. 153. — 

 One of this scarce little sandpiper was captured alive on the 

 cattle-market, contiguous to this town, on Sept. 23. ; and we 

 believe it to be the only specimen that has been obtained in the 

 neighbourhood of Carlisle during the present year. 



Common Gannet (Sula Bassana), n. 172. — On June 24., 

 a very fine adult male was shot near the village of Bow- 

 ness. It was, however, extremely lean, and apparently labour- 

 ing under some disease ; and it is, perhaps, owing to this 

 circumstance that it had wandered so far from one of the 

 breeding stations of this bird on the Scotch coast. The cap- 

 ture of a gannet in this county is of very rare occurrence. 



Bed-breasted Goosander (Me) gus serrdtor), n.201. — Three 

 specimens were captured, in this vicinity, during the month 

 of November : two of them on the coast in the neighbour- 

 hood of Drumbrugh, on the sixth ; the other on the river 

 Eden, not far from the village of Richardby. They were 

 all young birds of the year, and are the only specimens we 

 have either seen or heard of for several years. The adults 

 are exceedingly rare in this district. 



Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristdtus), n. 206. — An old female, 

 in moult, was shot, not far from Carlisle, on Oct. 24. The 



