A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
Firth lying between Silloth and Allonby are flanked by a long stretch of 
sand dunes which are tenanted in the summer by quantities of wheatears 
(Saxicola cenanthe), and other small birds. The fine sandy bay which 
lies between Mowbray and Maryport is visited by many species of 
seafowl, and affords feeding grounds to enormous flocks of peewits 
(Vanellus vulgaris) in early winter. ‘The coast line west of Maryport is 
spoilt by many iron works and other industries ; but when we approach 
Whitehaven the red sandstone cliffs of St. Bees rise up from the sea level, 
and offer suitable breeding ledges to the herring-gull (Larus argentatus) 
and the common guillemot (Uria troie). The kestrel generally nests 
upon the cliffs at Sandwith, where we once found a fine pair of pere- 
grines (Falco peregrinus) established. Proceeding south we find the 
coast offers little shelter for birds until we reach the Ravenglass estuary. 
This locality is a winter haunt of wigeon (Mareca penelope) and many 
other species of duck; but it is chiefly remarkable for the quantity 
of breeding oyster-catchers (Hematopus ostralegus), black-headed gulls 
(Larus ridibundus), and especially terns (Sternine), of which the most 
interesting is the Sandwich tern (Sterna cantiaca), which lays its 
handsomely marked eggs among the sand-hills of Drigg Common in 
increasing numbers. The remainder of the coast is bare and exposed 
until we arrive at the estuary of the Duddon. The salt marshes of the 
Duddon have not been worked with the same diligent care as those of 
the Solway Firth, and consequently have yielded few species of interest. 
The county of Cumberland suffers, in common with Lancashire and 
Cheshire, from its westerly position, which deprives us of the pleasure of 
detecting as many avian waifs as are procured upon the coasts of Norfolk 
and Yorkshire. It must however be borne in mind that the more 
systematically any region is explored, the richer will its fauna be proved to 
be. A migratory line of some importance appears to strike the Solway 
Firth from the eastward, to which circumstance we are inclined to 
ascribe the occurrence of such eastern or southern forms as the Isabelline 
wheatear (Saxicola isabellina), the ruddy sheldrake (Ladorna casarca), 
the crane (Grus communis), the collared pratincole (Glareola pratincola), 
the cream-coloured courser (Cursorius gallicus), and even the little gull 
(Larus minutus). 
Every true naturalist must feel regret that the sea-eagle (Halaétus 
albicilla) has ceased to rear its young among our mountain solitudes ; nor 
can we view with equanimity the fact that the hen-harriers have long 
ceased to rear their young upon Newton Common, or that other birds of 
prey have become rarer than they were even a generation ago. The 
draining of such marsh lands as Cardew Mire have deprived us of the 
gratification of listening to the bellowing of the bittern (Botaurus stellaris) 
on a summer’s night ; the drumming of the snipe (Ga//inago ca@lestis) no 
longer enlivens every morass as in bygone days. But we thankfully 
recognize that the close of the nineteenth century finds certain other 
species more firmly established than ever before, especially the star- 
ling (Sturnus vulgaris), the stock-dove (Columba cnas), the sheldrake 
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