INTRODUCTION. 



breadth, joining issue upon its border with the littoral sand- 

 hills which flank the coastline continuously, unless interrupted 

 by modern industries, as between j\Iaryport and Workington, 

 or by natural features as at Whitehaven. But it is upon the 

 Ravenglass estuary that the conical sandhills become most 

 pronounced, affording shelter to a colony of Sandwich Terns, 

 which, with many other species, breed increasingly mider the 

 vigilant protection of Lord Miincaster. Immediately south 

 of the town of Whitehaven, the coastline, otherwise depressed, 

 is diversified by the St. Bees sandstone, which, rising to a 

 height of 333 ft. at Sand with, afibrds a safe retreat to Eaven 

 and to Falcon upon its fatal precipices, the Eazorbill and the 

 Common Guillemot occupying the lower ledges, in close 

 proximity to a flourishing colony of the Herring Gull. 



Drainage. The extension of surface drainage has rendered many 



portions of our fells and salt marshes less suitable for wildfowl 

 than was formerly the case ; but Avith the exception of 

 Rockliffe lough, Tarn Wadling (100 acres), Cardew Mire 

 (once a rushy bog, two miles in length and a quarter of a 

 mile in breadth, where the Bittern is reputed to have bred), 

 our mosses and loughs have for the most part escaped the 

 doom of being converted to the prosaic uses of agriculture. 



A large extent of moorland has also been reclaimed during 

 the last thirty years, but despite these changes, the Black- 

 headed Gull, and other moss-loving birds are on the increase. 

 Nor should it be forgotten that the estuaries of the Duddon, 

 at Millom ; of the Irt, Mite, and Esk, at Eavenglass ; of the 

 Waver, Wampool, Esk, and Eden, on the Solway ; combine 

 with the numerous creeks intersecting our salt marshes (of 

 which, between five and six thousand acres impinge on the 

 Solway), to arrest the attention of waders and wildfo"\A'l during 

 their periodical migrations. 



Migration. It has been ably suggested by Mr. Mitchell (Birds of 



