280 Notice of the Arrival of some Summer Birds of Passage. 



Yorkshire, Westmorland, Ciimberland, and some parts of 

 Scotland. Dr. Latham, it is true, in the last edition of his 

 General History of Birds, has given some account of the nest 

 of this species, the time and period of their incubation, and 

 the numbers of their et^gs, but does not describe them under 

 these circumstances. We trust the following description, al- 

 though now written upwards of forty-four years ago, will not 

 be altogether uninteresting to our ornithological readers. 



" Some time last summer a nest of the Dottrel was found on 

 Skiddaw ; the old one was killed and the eggs brought away, 

 which were three or four in number. I saw three of them; they 

 are somewhat larger than a magpie's egg, the ground is a dirty 

 clay colour marked with large irregular black spots. Fe- 

 bruary 14, 1785*." 



Conuiion Tern. — This species does not visit Solway Frith in 

 any great numbers, and for some years past has been much 

 less numerous than usual. It is there called by the fishermen 

 and others. Jerky, Pickman, &c. The Lesser Tern (S. mi- 

 nuta) rarely visits the Frith, and Allonby is the nearest place 

 we have lately received it from. 



The spring of the present year was one of the most backward 

 that has occurred in this neighbourhood for very many years. 



During the whole of April and the beginning of May the 

 thermometer was frequently below the freezing point, the sur- 

 rounding mountains more or less covered with snow, and the 

 weather in general gloomy, wet, and extremely cold. 



It was not until the 6th of May that the white-thorn [Cra- 

 tccgus oxyacantha) in the hedges began to exhibit any very evi- 

 dent symptoms of verdure, and the woods were almost entirely 

 destitute of their foliage for some time after ; in short, the win- 

 ter might be said to have been protracted, with little or no ex- 

 aggeration, until nearly the middle of May. 



We have been led to make these remarks, from its being 

 generally admitted that the early or late appearance of the sum- 

 mer birds of passage depends entirely upon the state and tem- 

 perature of the weather, &c. ; yet it will be perceived that the 

 Swallow and Grasshopper Warbler arrived unusually early, 

 and, with the exception of the Goatsucker, Whinchat, and 

 Wood Wren, all the others about the time they have arrived 

 for the last two years. A violent storm from the north-east, 

 which commenced on the 2Sth of April, and which continued, 

 although somewhat abated, for several successive days, will 

 account in some measure for the delay in the appearance of 

 these three species, it having begun about the time they com- 



* Dr. Heysham's MSS. 



monly 



