NATURAL HISTORY 
Among the larger and better known moths of the mosses, the oak 
eggar, the fox, the emperor, the clouded buff, and the light tussock may 
be cited as eminently typical of the ground upon which they are found ; 
while the gray rustic among the Noctua, and the smoky wave, the gray 
scalloped bar, and the Manchester treble bar among the Geometre may 
also be referred to. 
When we leave the mosses of the northern and western borders of 
the county, we enter at once upon the so-called ‘ marshes.’ These are 
really extensive areas of reclaimed grazing lands, drained by an intricate 
system of creeks. They extend from Skinburness to Abbey, and on the 
other side of the river Waver nearly to Kirkbride, and again follow the 
banks of the Wampool to the sea. Similar marshes stretch from the 
neighbourhood of Port Carlisle to Burgh Marsh Point and the banks of 
the Eden ; the latter river unites its waters with those of the Esk below 
the extremity of Rockliffe marsh, which is washed by the stream of 
both of these fine salmon rivers. The whole of the Solway marshes are 
covered with grass, and large portions of their surface glow in summer 
with the crimson carpeting of the thrift ; many redshanks wheel across 
the wide expanse of salting with vociferous cries, while their young 
crouch like those of the peewit under the shelter of any convenient tuft 
of grass. The shoveler also rears its young upon these marshes. Endless 
skylarks rise from under the feet of the pedestrian who seeks to cross the 
marsh, while the common sandpiper chants its familiar notes along the 
margins of the sandy shores, which are enlivened as autumn draws on by 
the arrival of hundreds of ringed plover and other little waders. Indeed, 
the marshes are most frequented by migrating birds in the month of 
September ; redbreasts skulk in the sides of the creeks ; wheatears dart 
from turf to turf ; little stints probe the tiny pools or ‘ dubs’ for minute 
worms ; greenshanks, ruffs, bar-tailed godwits, and other birds of the 
same family feed on the wide expanse of sand laid bare by the ebbing 
tide, or resort for shelter to the marshes, as the gravel scaurs upon which 
they congregate are covered with the swiftly advancing waters. In 
winter, such hardy birds as curlews and knots replace the waders that are 
less tolerant of cold ; wild ducks and geese then arrive in large or small 
flocks and feed upon the marsh grass or the various forms of animal life 
to be found in the creeks. Many different species of duck resort during 
the day to a small group of freshwater ‘loughs’ or lakes, which are 
situated within a short flight of the great estuaries of the Solway Firth. 
Of these sheets of water, the most favoured is Monkhill Lough, which is 
resorted to by whooper swans, Bewick’s swans, long-tailed ducks and 
certain other species. But of all the birds which frequent our marshes 
no species more deserves mention than the bernacle goose, which has 
resorted to our marshes from time immemorial to feed upon the finer 
grasses throughout the colder months of the year. — 
Westward of Silloth, the flat shores of the Solway Firth are flanked 
by a fine belt of sand dunes, among which innumerable rabbits sport and 
gambol ; Pallas’s sand grouse showed a marked partiality for these sand 
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