Natural History in the English Counties. 275 



at Park Hall, near Heyfield, Derbyshire. Crossbills, on their arrival in this 

 country, sometimes seem to apprehend little danger from man, and will 

 suffer themselves to be approached very near without manifesting the least 

 alarm. In the month of August, 1810, a small flock of these birds fre- 

 quented the plantations in Crumpsall, and on one occasion I fired three 

 shots in quick succession, and killed an individual each time in a small spruce 

 fir, without appearing to disturb their companions which were feeding in the 

 same tree, nor did they ultimately take flight till I shook the fir violently 

 for the purpose of dislodging the birds I had shot, from the branches on 

 which they had fallen. The high condition of these birds proved that their 

 disregard of man and fire-arms was not occasioned by hunger. 



Tree Spai^row (i^ringilla montana). — This bird was captured at Chat 

 Moss, in Lancashire, and was kept alive for some time in an aviary at Ard- 

 wick, near Manchester, the proprietor of which presented it to the Society. 



Olivaceous Gallinule (Gallinula pusilla). — Mr. James Hall took this rare 

 bird alive, in a drain in Ardwick meadows, near Manchester, in the autumn 

 of 1807. 



Gi-eat Snipe (<S'c61opax major). — This is a male bird, and was shot at 

 Bradford, near Manchester. 



LeacK's Petrel (Procellaria Leachii). — This specimen was found dead in 

 a ploughed field near Wilmslow, in Cheshire, about four or five years since, 

 the morning after a heavy gale of wind from the north-west. A short time 

 afterwards, another individual of the same species was discovered in a putrid 

 state, at little Green, near Middleton,in Lancashire. Several instances are 

 on record of Leach's Petrel and the Stormy Petrel having been found far 

 inland, after violent storms, in a state of complete exhaustion. 



Little Auk (A'lca A'lce). — Like the smaller species, the Little Auk is oc- 

 casionally met with in the interior of the country, at a considerable distance 

 from the sea. Our specimen was taken alive at Sale, in Cheshire, on the 

 10th of December, 1824. 



Crested Cormorant (Carbo cristatus). — The fact that the Crested Cor- 

 morant does not retain the long feathers on the crown of the head through- 

 out the year, has occasioned much perplexity among ornithologists. This 

 specimen is in the plumage of the pairing season, and was shot near Flam- 

 borough Head, in Yorkshire. 



Besides the birds already enumerated, there are, in the Manchester col- 

 lection, the O^pr^y (FalcojHaliae^etus); i\ieCirl Bunting (Emhenzo. cirhts); 

 the Hawfinch (Fringilla Coccothraustes) j the Bearded Titmouse (Parus 

 biarmicus) ; and the Little Bustard (O'tis Tetrax), which have also been 

 killed in Great Britain ; but as their history is less perfectly known to me 

 than that of the preceding species, I must rest satisfied with having particu- 

 larised them. — John Blachwall. Crumpsall Hall, March 30. 1829. 



CUMBEKLAND. 



Birds in the Neighbourhood of Whitehaven, Cumberland. — Sir, Observing 

 that the Fauna of the different British counties constitutes a part of the plan 

 of your interesting Journal, I have taken the liberty of sending you a list of 

 the birds met with in this part of Cumberland ; they are named after the 

 Linnean system, except where expressly stated otherwise. 



Accipitres. Falco -Buteo, the common Buzzard ; F. il^'llvus, the Kite ; 

 F. iVisus, the Sparrow-hawk ; F. Tinnunculus, the Cestril, the males toler- 

 ably frequent; F. ^"salon, the Merlin ; Strix O'tis, the Long-horned Owl ; 

 iS". brachyotos, the Short-eared Owl j S. flammea, the Barn Owl ; S. stridula, 

 the Tawny, or Wood, Owl. 



Piece. Corvus Corax, the Raven ; a specimen, with a white ring round 

 its neck was seen and fired at, some time since, in the woods about Calder 

 Bridge ; C. fornix, the Hooded, or Royston, Crow, not very common ; C. 



Wm^: 



