of Passage in the Neighbourhood of Carlisle. 279 



fore the 12th of April, and then only a solitary male, notwith- 

 standing we had repeatedly traversed the coast both in March 

 and the beginning of April; and it was not until the 17th that 

 we observed them in the more immediate vicinity of Carlisle. 



Grasshopper Warbler. — The Grasshopper Warbler has been 

 more abundant with us this year than usual ; so much so, that 

 we have been able to procure four specimens, and could have 

 obtained more without much difficulty. These consisted of 

 three males and one female : the plumage of the former nearly 

 coincided with each other ; but the female was entirely desti- 

 tute of the brown spots on the breast, and all the under parts 

 were of an uniform pale brown or buff colour. "We have been 

 induced to notice this circumstance, as it is stated that no ma- 

 terial difference exists in the plumage of the sexes : should 

 this not be an accidental occurrence, it is possible the females 

 do not acquire these marks imtil the second or third year. 



The stomachs of the whole were entirely filled with the 

 elytra and remains of small coleopterous insects, principally be- 

 longing to the family Curculionidce of Leach; and we could not 

 discover the least vestige of any orthopterous insect, upon 

 which they are supposed almost entirely to subsist, and which 

 they are said to decoy by their remarkable note. 



Dottrel [Charadritis morinellus). — At one time we had con- 

 siderable hopes that we should have been able to have noticed 

 the arrival of the Dottrel in this neighbourhood with some 

 degree of accuracy, having lately ascertained that it had regu- 

 larly for some years past resorted to some open ground con- 

 tiguous to Scugh Dyke, situate upon Broad Field, about nine 

 miles south-west from Carlisle. At this place they usually 

 remained about ten days or a fortnight, when they in all pro- 

 bability took up their residence on Skiddaw and the adjoining 

 mountains, where they annually breed. Early in May 1828 they 

 were seen in the above situation in considerable numbers, and 

 from fifteen to twenty were killed about the 9th of that month. 

 It is perhaps not very generally known that some parts of the 

 plumage of the Dottrel is in very great request by the manu- 

 facturers of artificial flies for fishing, and accounts for their 

 being pursued and killed in such numbers: and it is probably 

 owing to this circumstance that they are every year becoming 

 more and more scarce in the vicinity of Keswick. We regret 

 to add that not a single bird has been seen there this summer, 

 wliicii may partly be attributed to the numbers killed last year, 

 and has in all likelihood caused them to resort to some more 

 scfjucslred place. The eggs of the Dottrel, we believe, still re- 

 main undescribed, which is somewhat extraordinary, consider- 

 ing that they constantly breed in the mountainous districts of 



Yorkshire, 



