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NOTE ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE ICELAND 
FALCON IN EDENSIDE. 
\ By J. G. GOODCHILD, H.M. GroLocicaL SuRVEY. 
(Read at the Workington Annual Meeting.) 
AmoncstT the wild animals still existing in the British Isles, there 
are hardly any that have a greater claim upon the attention of 
naturalists than the Beasts and Birds of Prey. Gradually, but 
surely, one after another of these is being improved off the face of 
the earth, and the time may not be far distant when many of the 
wild animals that are familiar to the naturalists of the present day, 
may become as extinct as the Great Auk or the Dodo. 
Within the memory of people yet living, the Wild Cat, the 
Sweet Mart, the Foumart, and the Badger were still denizens of 
Cumberland and Westmorland: now they have become so rare 
that the occurrence of any one of them is considered worthy of 
being chronicled in the newspapers. Many old people here can 
yet remember the time when the Golden Eagle, the Arn or Sea 
Eagle, and the Osprey, were regular visitants to these parts, and 
nested year after year in suitable localities around us. Now-a-days 
they occur here only as chance stragglers at distant intervals of 
time, and when they do occur, they only too often meet with such 
a reception as effectually prevents their return. Even the once 
familar Kite has left us ; and the Buzzard and the Raven linger 
here and there in solitary pairs only in the wildest parts of our 
fells. 
The spread of cultivation has much to do with this ; but it is to 
