136 THE BIRDS OF CUMBERLAND. 



On several occasions I have come across young in 

 July. James Cooper, who is alluded to above, was 

 employed as a collector by Mr. Heysham, and 

 was the ' able assistant ' spoken of by him in his 

 account of the Dotterel. Cooper was a remarkable 

 man and deserves a passing notice. He it was who 

 really discovered the first eggs of the Dotterel on 

 Whiteside. He was a man who seemed capable of 

 enduring any amount of fatigue. On the 28th of 

 June, 1835, he walked from Carlisle to Whiteside, a 

 distance of between thirty and forty miles, where 

 he arrived late in the afternoon. He had not been 

 long on the mountain, before he observed a pair of 

 Dotterel. He searched for the eggs without success 

 till darkness came on, when he determined to stay 

 out on the mountain all nig'ht and renew his search 

 at daybreak, which he did, and was rewarded by 

 finding the eggs. He then walked back to Carlisle, 

 never having been in bed since leaving there the 

 previous day. Cooper was born near Cockermouth 

 in 1792, of humble parentage, and, though he had 

 few advantages, was a most intelligent man. As a 

 collector he had few equals, and his knowledge of 

 British Birds was so great, that when Mr. Yarrell 

 compiled his History of British Birds, much of his 

 information was the result of Cooper's experience. 

 He was also an entomologist and added several new 

 insects to the British lists. His death took place 

 at Warrington, on the 1st of August, 1879, in 

 the eighty-seventh year of his age. A few of 

 the foregoing facts are taken from ' A short 

 biography of James Cooper,' sent to me by the late 

 Dr. Kendrick of Warrington." 



