BIRDS 
soon after. On December 15th, in the same 
year, when crossing Burgh Marsh, I observed 
a single cygnet sitting on the open marsh. It 
rose upon the wing when it saw me, but 
after making a flight round alighted again on 
the ground and began to crop the grass upon 
the edge of a wide creek. It was secured by 
my friend, Mr. D. L. Thorpe, though only 
after a long and difficult stalk. The only 
swans reported to me, apparently, in the 
winter of 1893-94 were a bird seen on the 
Wampool by Story in October, 1893, and 
five examples seen by W. Nicol on January 
3rd, 4th and 5th, 1894. In January, 1895, 
T. Peal saw a single bird on the Solway 
Firth, and this may possibly have been the 
bird which James Smith observed in the 
neighbourhood of Drumburgh until the 
middle of April, when it disappeared. It 
had, he thought, been wounded by some one 
who fired at it on Bigland’s Bog, and no 
doubt lingered in the neighbourhood until it 
had entirely recovered from its injury. Nicol 
did not meet with any wild swans in the 
winter of 1895—96 until February 25th, 1896, 
when fourteen Bewick’s swans visited Silloth 
Bay. He eventually fired at them with his 
punt-gun ; they rose from the sandbank on 
which they were resting and flew round the 
bay for upwards of half an hour, after which 
they flew off in an easterly direction. Nicol 
met with one herd of these swans in 1897. 
In 1898 he fell in with three Bewick’s swans 
in the early part of October, and they were 
fairly tame; but a single bird which fre- 
quented the same estuary in November that 
same year was excessively wild, and always 
rose on the wing if it sighted his punt. 
Lastly, six Bewick’s swans appeared at Skin- 
burness in December, 1899. A cygnet was 
shot there on December 21st, and another 
cygnet was killed higher up the Solway Firth 
by Thomas Peal on December 29th, 1899. 
143. Mute Swan. Cygnus olor (Gmelin). 
Mute swans often visit the estuaries of our 
coast and exhibit as much wariness in some 
cases as any wild birds could do; but there 
is always the probability of their having es- 
caped from some ornamental water. The 
Corporation of Carlisle keep a good many 
swans on the Eden, and others breed at 
Talkin Tarn. 
144. Polish Swan. Cygnus immutabilis, Yarrell. 
Four specimens of this species, or variety, 
appeared on the Wampool in January, 1892. 
They were exceedingly wild, and on this 
account were pursued with the greater eager- 
ness by local punt-gunners, who eventually 
secured them all. They weighed from 16 to 
20 |b. apiece, the males being the heaviest. 
Three others were killed on Derwentwater 
in February, 1897. 
145. Common Sheld-Duck. Tadorna cornuta 
(S. G. Gmelin). 
Locally, Shell, Skeldrake, Skellie. 
A common resident upon the sandy shores 
of all our estuaries, though seldom met with 
inland. No species of wildfowl has increased 
so remarkably of late years, at any rate on the 
coast, as this maritime duck. Its growing 
numbers are probably due to the protection 
afforded to the breeding birds under recent 
legislation, ‘Thirty years ago the sheldrake 
was comparatively scarce in the neighbourhood 
of Drumburgh, and nested constantly in rabbit 
burrows. When James Smith first went to 
live there, only two or three pairs of shel- 
drakes nested in the locality ; whereas, at the 
present time, upwards of thirty pairs nest 
within an easy walk of his house, and the 
birds disperse themselves freely over the neigh- 
bouring mosses. Some of this colony still 
nest in rabbit-holes ; but not a few prefer the 
cover of thick furze bushes, or the tall heather. 
The birds are well aware of the danger to 
which open nests are exposed when visible to 
the prying eyes of crows or magpies. They 
are very careful to enter cover at some dis- 
tance from their eggs, and to run along the 
ground for some yards until they reach their 
nests. 
The males are highly combative in the 
pairing season. Many fights ensue before 
each pair settles down by common agreement 
to its proper location. ‘Then comes the choice 
of a nesting site. The early hours are often 
spent in searches after suitable quarters. The 
female may be seen entering and leaving one 
burrow after another, while her champion 
mounts guard in the vicinity. After an hour 
or so spent in ‘ ratching about ’ and determining 
the relative merits of different positions, the 
birds return to sport in the waters of the river 
channel, or feed upon the broad extent of sand 
exposed by the ebbing tide. 
When the pangs of hunger have been ap- 
peased by a plentiful capture of the minute 
shells, which form the chief food of this bird, 
paired birds often fly up and down the coast 
for exercise, or retire to some small pool of 
fresh water near the coast, in which they 
bathe and play together. I have seen as 
many as five pairs at once on a little shallow 
dub under the shelter of the sand dunes near 
Silloth, and even large numbers may be found 
consorting (not flocking, however) on more 
considerable pieces of water. ‘The immature 
199 
