246 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
middle of this month the usual immigration of Short-eared Owls 
took place, and on the 25th I put up a flock of eight amongst the 
sandhills. Happening on this occasion to fall in with my friend 
the watcher, I was particularly requested to kill all the Owls 
I could, as they preyed upon the rabbits. I need scarcely say 
that I did not comply with his request, feeling confident that it is 
the abundance of mice alone that attracts these interesting birds 
to the locality. On the same day I noticed a single Wheatear, 
which seemed to have been deserted by its companions. 
A few days later, whilst out fishing in a small yacht, I came 
to the conclusion that sea-birds were more plentiful than usual 
this year. In the course of two or three hours we observed some 
hundreds of Razorbills, Guillemots, Kittiwakes and Scoters, as 
well as a few Gannets and larger Gulls; but, though I kept a 
eareful look out on this, as on all other occasions, I was unable 
to detect any of the Skuas of which in some localities there has 
been of late such a remarkable influx. 
During November the only birds worth noticing which came 
under my observation were four Red-breasted Mergansers, shot 
on the channel between Walney and the mainland, and a couple 
of Dippers procured in Cumberland. The gizzards of the latter 
proved on dissection to contain numerous remains of minute 
beetles, intermixed with some fibrous material, apparently of a 
vegetable nature. By the end of this month winter had set in 
with a severity which threatened to equal that of 1878-9. Ducks 
and other wildfowl driven from inland waters by the frost, and 
rendered comparatively tame froin the same cause, were plentiful 
on the sea-coast. 
On December 2nd sixteen Swans were seen and shot at by a 
local gunner as they flew down the channel between Barrow 
and Walney Island. The following day nine Geese, probably 
Bernicles, were observed in the same locality, and several of the 
latter species were procured during the next fortnight. Golden 
Plovers appeared about the middle of the month in unusual 
numbers, and, what was somewhat remarkable, three Sheldrakes 
were trapped on Walney in one night. Before Christmas the 
inland species of birds were reduced to almost the same straits 
as they had been at the commencement of the year, and flocks of 
Larks, Wagtails, and Starlings might be seen feeding amongst 
the snow with the Sparrows in the streets of the town. 
