90 THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 



Upon the English side of the Sol way, the marshes 

 of RocklifFe and Newton are its chief feeding 

 grounds, especially Rockliffe, where the western 

 extremity of the marsh affords fine feeding ground 

 to the Barnacle, on the sand between high tide 

 mark and sound grazing land. 



A small party of Barnacles generally arrives on 

 the Solway during the last week of September, or 

 even earlier. 



In the present autumn (1885), Mr. R. Mann, 

 when shooting on October 1st, near Allonby, saw 

 a flock of ten Barnacles flying, high up, before 

 the wind, south-west. On the 16th, at 4-45 p.m., 

 we saw a flock of about three hundred birds, flying 

 direct east towards Bocklifle marsh. After watch- 

 ing them some time, they turned in a northerly 

 direction, but arrived on Kocklifte marsh the same 

 evening. The afternoon was bright, with a strong 

 east wind. In most seasons the bulk of the Bar- 

 nacles which winter on Rockliffe marsh arrive 

 in that locality between October 23rd and the end 

 of the month. Barnacle Geese are extremely 

 wary fowl, and feed chiefly by night ; but upon 

 the point of Rockliffe marsh, where the birds 

 are a good deal harassed at night, Mr. A. Smith 

 has observed that latterly they have adhered less 

 strictly to their rule of feeding at night, finding it 

 safer to feed by day in a locality where they can at 

 once detect the approach of any sportsman on the 

 marsh, than to feed at night, when they are pretty 

 certain to be in danger. The food of the Barnacle 

 consists of the young tender blades of grass which 



