A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



area as there are no suitable building sites, but as 

 it breeds in North Wales and in Cumberland it 

 frequents our coasts and rivers, often ascending 

 the estuaries for some distance chiefly in autumn 

 and winter. It may be noted that the 'Liver' in 

 the arms of the Corporation of Liverpool has 

 been supposed to be the cormorant, as the same 

 appears in the arms of the earl of Liverpool and 

 is described in Burke's Peerage as a ' Cormorant 

 holding in the beak a bunch of seaweed,' for 

 which, however, as Prof. Newton remarks, there 

 is no authority. 



131. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacrocorax 



graculm (Linn.). 



An occasional visitor. The same obser\'ations 

 apply to the shag as to the cormorant, except 

 that for some reason it visits our coasts less fre- 

 quently than the latter. 



132. Gannet or Solan Goose. Sula bassana 



(Linn.). 



A frequent visitor to Liverpool Bay ; more fre- 

 quently seen 8-10 miles ofiFthe coast and during 

 winter. 



[The 



Tropick Bird. (? Phiethon athereus ijil 

 (Linn.). 



'About two years ago (1698) by a violent 

 hailstorm . . . there was brouj^rht a bird all white 

 (except only a short red beak) about the bigness 

 of a pigeon. . . I could apprehend it to be no 

 other than what our travellers call the Tropick 

 Bird, met with usually in crossing that Line.' 

 (Leigh, History of Lancashire, i. pp. 164, 165 ; 

 Table ye I of Birds, fig. 3). The illustration 

 (1. c.) certainly represents a species of Phathon 

 which must no doubt have been brought from 

 the S.W. regions of the Atlantic by the storm]. 



133. Heron. A rdea cinerea, hinn. 



Locally, Crane, Yem, Longricks, Jammy, Heron- 



shaw. 



Many heronries have existed in the county at 

 one place and another within the last fifteen 

 years, but the extension of cultivated land and 

 the consequent destruction of the plantations 

 frequented by the birds have greatly reduced 

 their number. Isolated nests are occasionally 

 found in suitable places throughout the county. 

 The most important heronries still remaining are 

 at Ince Blundell near Waterloo, where about a 

 score of pairs breed annually, and at Scarisbrick, 

 near Southport, where there is a colony of twenty- 

 five to thirty pairs. Another colony of ten to 

 twelve pairs finds a home at Ashton, near Lan- 

 caster (Mitchell, Birds of Lancashire, ed. 2, p. 143). 

 Macpherson {Lakeland, p. 223) records three 

 other heronries ; one of ten to twelve pairs at 

 Roundsea Wood, which was destroyed in 1886, 

 but exists probably somewhere not far off, as 

 young birds were seen on Roundsea Moss in 

 1 89 1 ; a second in the Rusland Valley, where 



annually from eight to ten pairs nest, and the 

 third at Whittington near Kirkby Lonsdale. The 

 bird is far from an uncommon fisher by tiie banks 

 of all our streams and canals and by our mere 

 margins. Notwithstanding Lancashire's poverty 

 in heronries large and flourishing colonies exist in 

 Yorkshire and Cheshire, from which come many 

 of our very welcome visitors. 



134. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea,\J\nr\. 



One visit of this species is recorded in 1887 

 (Pickin, Zoologist, 1887, p. 432). 



135. Night Heron. Nycticorax griseus (Linn.). 



No certain record of the occurrence of this 

 species can be traced during the last twenty years ; 

 but Mr. Davies, of Lymm in Cheshire, possesses 

 a specimen, received by him in the flesh, killed 

 at Newton-le- Willows some ' ten or twelve years 

 ago' (Coward, Zoologist, 1904, p. 314). 



136. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta (Linn.). 



In past years an occasional summer visitor, but 

 no record exists of its presence within our boun- 

 daries for many years past. 



Bittern. Botaurus stellaris (Linn.). 

 Locally, Butter-bump, Bittery, Bog-bumper, Mue- 

 drum. 



198 



A very frequent visitor in winter, but not now 

 known to nest within the county, although there 

 can be little doubt that it once did so when 

 drainage was less undertaken, and our meres and 

 mosses were, therefore, more extensive and further 

 from human habitation than to-day. 



138. American Bittern. Botaurus lentiginosus 

 (Montagu). 



One clearly authenticated occurrence is re- 

 corded from Fleetwood on 8 December, 1895 

 (Cooper, Zoologist, 1846, p. 1248). 



139. Glossy Ibis. Plegadis falcinellus (Linn.). 



This species has been observed on four occa- 

 sions in Lancashire during the past century. A 

 specimen, preserved in the Lord Derby Museum, 

 Liverpool, was shot at Ormskirk, and bequeathed 

 to the city by the thirteenth Lord Derby in 1 85 1 . 

 Some local interest attaches to this bird, as to it, 

 amongst others, has been assigned the original of 

 the ' Liver ' in the arms of the City of Liverpool. 

 'The mysterious bird that figured on the ancient 

 Corporation Seal seems to have been an eagle, 

 the well-known symbol of St. John the Evan- 

 gelist ' (cf. Picton, Memorials of Liverpool, i. p. 18, 

 and Newton, Dictionary of Birds, sub voce ' Lever 

 or Liver ' ; also under Cormorant, No. 

 supra). 



140. Spoonbill. Platalea leucorodia, Linn. 

 The spoonbill is recorded only once from Lan- 

 cashire — the specimen now in the Preston Mu- 

 seum having been taken on the Ribble in 1840 

 (Mitchell, Birds of Lancashire, ed. 2, p. 148). 



129, 



