24 



future. My experience was gained in the secluded valley of 

 Ennerdale, through which the Lissa flows towards the lake. The 

 Curlew* comes to us from the swampy coasts about the beginning 

 of March, and retires in the autumn, after rearing his brood upon 

 some elevated and secluded heath. The young are extremely 

 clever in hiding themselves on the approach of danger, of which 

 they are certain to be warned by the old birds. Their nest is rude 

 and inartificial, consisting of a few dried stalks of grass, rushes, or 

 sedges, carelessly drawn together. The Plovers hardly trouble 

 themselves to make any nests at all, but lay their eggs merely in a 

 scratched hollow. I have known a cow's or a horse's footprint to 

 suffice, very few grasses or lining materials being employed. The 

 Peewit is of course common enough. The Golden Plover is a 

 local rather than a scarce bird ; he is a tenant for the summer of 

 the higher moorlands, seldom approaching the dwellings of man. 

 The Dotterel is gradually becoming extinct. Anglers are, I am 

 afraid, answerable in a great measure for the decrease. That the 

 Dotterel does yet occasionally breed on the Cumberland moors I 

 had ocular demonstration in 1880, when I most unexpectedly fell 

 in with a brood on Hartside, a lofty moor over Dowthwaite Head, 

 Matterdale. 



The Corncrake, which has been very abundant in my district 

 this last season, has a singular peculiarity. No actor on the stage 

 can simulate death like this bird. He will suffer himself to be 

 roughly handled on what are commonly considered the tenderest 

 parts of a bird's frame, without betraying the slightest symptom of 

 pain ; but drop him on the ground, retire a few paces, and observe 

 him carefully ; by and bye he will open first one eye, and then the 

 other, take a cool survey of his bearings, and seeing no danger at 

 hand, walk off with the utmost coolness. The Coot, though 

 frequently met with on many of the lakes, is rarely a visitor to 

 Ullswater. The Water-hen inhabits the lower streams and pools 

 of the plain, rather than hillside torrents. 



* During the last two seasons, while dwelling by the Solway, I liave seen 

 Curlews crossing the Frith from Kirkcudbright, and flying inland, apparently 

 to reach their breeding grounds. 



