A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
125. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacro- 
corax graculus (Linn.). 
A scarce bird in the waters of this county, 
as it was a hundred years ago according to Dr. 
Heysham. I have seen it on the Solway 
Firth, and single birds have been taken on our 
rivers. An immature shag was caught on the 
Caldew on October 2nd, 1856. 
126. Gannet or Solan Goose. Sula bassana 
(Linn.). 
A spring and summer visitant, often to be 
seen fishing in our territorial waters, occasion- 
ally venturing up the shallow waters of our 
estuaries, An adult was seen at Silloth in 
January, 1894, but we do not as a rule meet 
with the present species in winter. 
127. Common Heron. Ardea cinerea, Linn. 
Locally, Heronsue, Willie Fisher, Nannie. 
A common resident, resorting to the estuary 
marshes and occasionally to our open coast in 
winter, at other times haunting our streams 
and rivers as well as marshy meadows. ‘There 
are fine breeding colonies at Edenhall and 
Wythop ; others nest at Crofton, Muncaster, 
Greystoke, Netherby, as also on the Gelt ; 
but the smaller colonies are often interfered 
with, and changes occur from time to time. 
128. Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea, Linn. 
A rare visitant. A single specimen was 
shot near Alston twenty years or so prior to 
1870, in which year its history was reported 
to the late Mr. John Gould. It was added 
to the Edenhall collection. 
129. Squacco Heron. Ardea ralloides, Scopoli. 
A rare visitant. A specimen was shot out 
of a tree near the village of Kirkoswald in 
July, 1845. It was shot by a Lazonby farmer. 
He appears to have sent it to the late Sir 
George Musgrave, for whom it was probably 
mounted by Philip Turner of Penrith. 
130. Night-Heron. Nycticorax griseus (Linn.). 
A rare visitant to the north of England, 
but one that seems to have strayed into this 
county on four occasions. Mr. T. C. Hey- 
sham knew of a young bird that was shot on 
the Petteril, near the village of Carleton, in 
October or November, 1847. It is believed 
that an adult bird was shot at Beckfoot, near 
Brampton, about 1850. Another specimen, 
which I have often seen, was killed in the 
Abbey Holme about 1866. A fourth example, 
in the plumage of the first year, was shot by 
Thomas Davidson of Cargo, in a field ad- 
joining his garden, October 21st, 1900. 
131. Little Bittern. Ardetta minuta (Linn.). 
A rare visitant. About 1845 a specimen 
in female plumage was caught close to the 
Petteril near Carlisle in the month of July. 
It was sent to the late Mr. John Hancock of 
Newcastle, and is preserved in his collection. 
132. Bittern. Botauris stellaris (Linn.). 
Locally, Miredrum, Bitter-drum, Bitter (ods.). 
Formerly resident on many of our bogs, 
the bittern has long ceased to startle country 
folk with its spring ‘booming,’ though the 
local names are still current, with the excep- 
tion of ‘bitter,’ which is only known to us 
from the Howard Household Book. Many wild- 
fowl were supplied from local sources to the 
table of Lord William Howard at Naworth 
Castle. Thus in 1618 two bitterns were 
purchased for the castle kitchen in the first 
week of August ; the same thing happened 
in 1634, a bittern being bought in for six- 
pence, the price also of a wild duck. The 
fact that these birds were eaten at the very 
beginning of August renders it fair to suppose 
that the birds had been bred or had nested in 
the neighbourhood. Even in the later years 
of the eighteenth century the bittern_ was 
believed to breed on low-lying lands beside 
the Eamont in the south of the county. It 
is highly probable that the headquarters of the 
bitterns that once nested in the county should 
be looked for in the neighbourhood of the 
coast and its estuaries. Kelswick Mire, near 
Abbey, was once the bittern’s home. The 
traditions preserved in the Timperon family 
show that a pair or two of bitterns nested in 
this morass annually. The young lads used 
to wade out into the reed beds on summer after- 
noons and capture the young of the ‘miredrum,’ 
which made good sport for their young tor- 
mentors by throwing up the frogs or ‘pad- 
docks’ which formed part of their diet. The 
boys had an unpleasant habit of spurting water 
into the mouths of the young bitterns with this 
result. The family were of course intimately 
acquainted with the love-note of the bittern, 
since their house was on the edge of the Mire. 
William Timperon’s father was born there 
about 1780, and the Mire was drained in 
1820. Cardew Mire was another famous 
haunt of this retiring bird. It is to be regretted 
that such individuals of this marsh-lover as 
visit the county in winter seldom escape 
scathless. Five specimens have been killed in 
the county in the last decade, including three 
killed at Weddholm Flow, Cumwhitton and 
Penrith in January, 1892; a fourth was shot 
near Little Bampton in November, 1893, and 
a fifth near Cumwhitton in January, 1900. 
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