A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
138. Snow-Goose. Chen hyperboreus (Pallas). 
This accidental visitant to Europe has been 
identified in the county on two occasions. 
In 1884 I saw an adult bird on the coast near 
Allonby on August 22nd. It was quite alone 
and apparently migrating. In January, 1891, 
four white geese were seen in a meadow near 
Mowbray by a farmer, whose dog put them 
up. He saw the birds at close quarters, and 
his evidence was independently confirmed. 
On the 22nd of the same month four snow- 
geese were observed near Carlisle by Mr. 
D. L. Thorpe and myself, flying down the 
Eden valley. 
139. Barnacle-Goose. Bernicla leucopsis (Bech- 
stein). 
The salt marshes of the Solway Firth are 
the constant resort of this well-known winter 
visitant, which is only absent from its favourite 
feeding-grounds for about five months in the 
year. Where precisely its chief breeding- 
grounds may lie, we do not know, though the 
young in down are affirmed to have been 
taken in Greenland and in Spitzbergen. It 
returns with comparative regularity to its 
winter home in the month of October. 
There are years in which the usual advent of 
these birds is accelerated, owing perhaps to 
early breeding seasons in the far north; the 
geese then arrive, or rather commence to 
arrive, in September. Thus, in 1891, be- 
tween two and five hundred birds arrived on 
Long Newton Marsh on September 28th ; a 
couple were shot near Allonby two days later. 
In other years I have met with odd individuals 
soon after the middle of September. But the 
first large flocks arrive, as a rule, between 
October 9th and 2oth, and are followed later 
by reinforcements which unite with those that 
have preceded them. The barnacle-goose 
does not resort to enclosed meadows or stubble 
fields, but occupies well-defined stations on the 
salt marshes, shifting from one marsh to another 
according to the food supply, but seldom 
abandoning a favourite haunt during the 
entire winter season unless a spell of excep- 
tionally severe weather induces the birds to 
journey to some less-exposed coast. 
140. Brent Goose. Bernicla brenta (Pallas). 
Locally, Rotgeese (= Root Geese) (0bs.). 
A winter visitant, of tolerably frequent 
occurrence upon the estuaries of the county, 
but seldom present in considerable numbers. 
A quantity of brent geese appeared on the 
Solway Firth during the last week of 1894 
and the first week of 1895. Several flocks 
alighted in the fields near Allonby, one of 
them being estimated to include between 
thirty and forty birds. But gaggles of five 
or six birds are the rule, and the stay even of 
these is rarely prolonged ; their favourite food 
is not forthcoming in sufficient abundance, 
and the marsh grasses, though greedily par- 
taken of in case of necessity, are not palatable 
to this goose. Both dark and light-breasted 
birds have come under my notice, but the 
latter predominate. 
141. Whooper Swan. Cygnus musicus, Bech- 
stein. 
A winter visitant, but of comparative rarity 
in the county. I have never handled a fresh 
local specimen in seventeen years, though the 
head of a cygnet of this species was sent to 
me for identification from Crofton, where the 
bird had been killed in December, 1895. 
But though it has not fallen to my lot to 
examine any dead whoopers in this part of 
England, I have found great pleasure in the 
study of living birds. In February, 1891, 
and again in January, 1893, two pairs of 
whoopers visited Monkhill Lough, and afforded 
me excellent opportunities of observing their 
actions in a state of nature. ‘Their time is 
chiefly spent in browsing upon aquatic herbage, 
their long necks submerged, and the body 
resting buoyantly on the surface of the water. 
If danger is anticipated, one or more indivi- 
duals remain on guard, straightening their 
necks and casting anxious glances in the 
direction from which harm is anticipated. At 
such moments the musical note of ‘ honk’ is 
frequently uttered. 
142. Bewick’sSwan. Cygnus bewicki, Yarrell. 
A winter visitant of comparative rarity, but 
few years probably elapse without the presence 
of individuals being reported, even if not ob- 
tained. A fine adult was killed at Edenhall 
in December, 1879; a second was killed in 
the same locality a little later; in 1884 a 
single bird was observed at Monkhill Lough 
on November 23rd ; a herd of twenty visited 
Ulleswater and other lakes in the south of 
the county in January, 1888; and three 
were killed on the Solway Firth by Bryson 
on Christmas Day, 1888. In the following 
January I found that a pair of these swans 
had taken up their residence on Monkhill 
Lough ; there I visited them on many occa- 
sions up to their departure, which took place 
late in March. On March 5th of that year, 
a herd of twenty-six swans, apparently of this 
species, was seen circling over the Ravenglass 
estuary. A single bird was independently 
noticed on the estuary. On December 4th, 
1890, W. Nicol fell in with six Bewick’s 
swans near Skinburness ; two were shot there 
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