A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
birds do not pair, but live a gregarious life 
among their own kind, feeding in the larger 
creeks and small runners, and resting upon 
the brow of the marshes. Incubation in 
mild seasons commences about the middle of 
the month of May. I have known nine 
fresh eggs to be laid in the nest by May 4th ; 
but fresh eggs may also be found in the month 
of June, or even later, if the first clutch has 
been robbed. 
146. Ruddy Sheldrake. 
(Linn.). 
The spring of 1892 will always be remem- 
bered by the present generation of ornitholo- 
gists as having witnessed a remarkable western 
movement of this eastern duck. The irruption 
affected Great Britain in a very special sense ; 
but the extended wave of migration reached 
as far north as Iceland, so that the probability 
of the strangers having escaped from cap- 
tivity was absolutely negatived. On July 
17th, 1892, two birds of the present species 
attracted the notice of a farmer at Kirkbride, 
by what he described as their ‘ grunting’ note. 
They were then swimming together in the 
waters of the Wampool near the village of 
Kirkbride; but being disturbed they rose 
upon the wing and flew away like common 
sheldrakes, flying high and in a straight line ; 
they soon wheeled, however, and circling 
round dropped quietly back into the river. 
Their arrival was notified to John Biglands, 
who searched for them on the following day. 
He found them without difficulty, and recog- 
nizing that they were strange to him, he shot 
one of the two. The bird thus obtained was 
in moult, at least it had been changing the 
smaller feathers, but the quills were quite per- 
fect. Biglands however thought that the bird 
was not perfect enough in feather to make a 
good cabinet specimen. Accordingly, instead 
of sending it to me, as was his first intention, 
he allowed his brother to carry it off to his 
farmhouse. He there identified the bird to 
his own satisfaction as a scaup, his only 
book of reference being Goldsmith’s Animated 
Nature. Believing rightly that the scaup was 
a common duck, this worthy flung his prize 
upon his manure-heap. When I arrived it 
had disappeared, and I was assured that a dog 
or cat had demolished it, which seemed likely 
enough. But I persevered. When the whole 
of the reeking dunghill had been turned over, 
a final thrust of the pitchfork brought up the 
remains of a bird, and sure enough it was a 
ruddy sheldrake. It was far advanced in de- 
composition, but the wing feathers were intact 
and showed that it had never been in confine- 
ment. We sorrowfully secured the skull and 
Tadorna casarca 
sternum, together with a few feathers, and 
returned the rotting carcase to the mass of 
filth from which it had been disinterred for 
our enlightenment. I must add that I spent 
many days in searching for the other bird. It 
frequented the Wampool for about a fortnight 
after the death of its companion. It then 
took up its quarters at Crofton Park, where 
it was shot by Mr. L. S. Cookson. He 
wrote to me that it was a very fine male 
in splendid plumage. 
147. Mallard or Wild Duck. Anas boscas, 
Linn. 
Locally, Grey Duck, Mire-Duck. 
A common resident, decreasing of late in 
most localities as a breeding species, but more 
mallard appeared in the neighbourhood of 
Abbey Holme, and the Solway Firth gener- 
ally, in the severe weather of December, 
1889, than had been seen for thirty or forty 
years. The large numbers which then ap- 
peared were to some extent supplied by the 
small birds which come from abroad; but 
may partly be explained by the attention 
which duck-breeding is now beginning to 
receive from landed proprietors. Three 
thousand head of wild ducks are often reared 
in a season on the Netherby estate, and 
though many of these home-bred birds are 
killed on the spot, it is only reasonable to 
suppose that others go to swell the bags of 
gunners on the marshes. 
148. Gadwall. Anas strepera, Linn. 
A rare visitant. The handsomest local 
specimen that I have seen hitherto was shot 
out of a flock of wigeon near Silloth, January 
8th, 1892. It was a mature drake in perfect 
plumage. A pair of gadwall frequented the 
Solway marshes in March, 1886, and the 
female was unluckily shot. A single male 
was shot at Grinsdale on October 21st, 1884. 
I had seen this bird at the point of Burgh 
Marsh a few days earlier. ‘Two female gad- 
wall were sent to me by Greenwood of Port 
Carlisle in October, 1895, with the remark 
that he had never seen such ducks before. 
The gadwall is even rarer inland than on our 
estuaries. An immature male was shot upon 
the Lyne on January 3rd, 1885. In Novem- 
ber, 1889, I observed a single drake which 
frequented Whin’s Pond. A drake obtained 
on that sheet of water is preserved at Edenhall. 
149. Shoveler. Spatula clypeata (Linn.). 
Locally, Spoonbill. 
A summer visitant, but in very sparing 
numbers. Only two or three pairs are 
known to breed in the county and all in 
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