BIRDS 
202. Dunlin. Tinga alpina, Linn. 
Locally, Plover’s Page, Plover-Provider, Sea- 
Mouse. 
A resident throughout the year, the num- 
bers of those which breed with us being enor- 
mously augmented by fresh arrivals in early 
autumn, though where precisely these immi- 
grants come from has not been ascertained. 
There are two breeding areas of this wader in 
the county, the one being furnished by the 
salt marshes and mosses of the Solway Firth, 
while the other coincides with the wild moors 
in the neighbourhood of Crossfell. On our 
eastern fells I have often fallen in with dun- 
lins, which were either alone or consorting 
with golden plover, to which habit they are 
curiously prone in the breeding season, and 
from which two of their local names are de- 
rived. 
203. Little Stint. Tringa minuta, Leisler. 
A rare autumn visitant, hitherto only ob- 
tained in the neighbourhood of the Solway 
Firth, and unknown inland. A few immature 
examples of this tiny wader generally visit the 
sandy shores of the Solway Firth about the 
first week of September, sometimes. even ear- 
lier ; but certain seasons pass without any in- 
dividuals being detected. Thus small numbers 
were procured in 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 
1891, 1892, 1893; but I do not know of 
any being seen in 1894. Only two were 
killed in September, 1895, and only a single 
bird in 1896. I have no entry of little stints 
in 1897; but the birds which arrived in Sep- 
tember, 1898, delayed their departure into 
October, the last being killed on the 22nd of 
that month. In 1889 a bird was killed on 
Rockliffe Marsh on November 2nd, our latest 
date for specimens actually killed; but W. 
Nicol saw a single bird near Skinburness on 
January 15th, 1891. ‘The only bird reported 
to us in 1889 was shot at Allonby on Septem- 
ber gth, by my servant, W. Nicol, jun. The 
late James Cooper once obtained a little stint 
on. June Ist, the only known instance of its 
occurring on the vernal migration. 
204. Temminck’s Stint. Tringa temmincki, 
Leisler. 
A very rare visitant. The late James 
Cooper killed two immature birds on Rockliffe 
Marsh, on September Ist, 1832; a third in 
the same locality on September 5th, 1832; 
and a fourth on September 2nd, 1839. I 
searched the creeks of Rockliffe Marsh, myself, 
for many years, but never detected the pre- 
sence of this sandpiper. 
205. Curlew-Sandpiper. Tringa subarquata 
(Guldenstadt). 
An autumn visitant to the estuaries of the 
Solway Firth, generally arriving in September, 
but occasionally in August. The birds met 
with at this season are the young of the year. 
The only adult that I have known to be 
secured in autumn was an old female, shot 
near Skinburness, September 2nd, 1899. 
This bird was in moult, but still retained a 
considerable amount of red plumage. It is 
preserved in the Carlisle Museum. James 
Cooper shot two curlew-sandpipers on Rock- 
liffe Marsh, in red dress, May 24th and 27th, 
1833; he also saw a small flock in May, 
1838. 
206. Purple Sandpiper. Tringa striata, Linn. 
A winter visitant to our coast in very spar- 
ing numbers. The only bird that is known 
to me as having been procured locally in first 
dress was shot near St. Bees. This species 
occurs in most autumns in small parties and 
singly, but never in flocks of any magnitude. 
207. Knot. Tringa canutus, Linn. 
Locally, Grey Knot. 
A winter visitant, often present on the fore- 
shores of the Solway Firth in immense flocks 
which perform the most marvellous aerial 
evolutions, rising and falling in the air and 
sweeping up and down the estuaries with 
perfect precision of action. Sometimes they 
rise to such a height that they become mere 
specks to the human vision ; at others they 
scarcely top the surface of the flowing tide. 
Upon their first arrival in August they are 
often very wild ; on the other hand, I have 
met with small parties in winter which were 
so tame that they would hardly trouble to 
rise from the beach on my approach. Per- 
haps the most interesting time to watch knots 
arrives when the return of the tide unites all 
the scattered flocks that have been feeding on 
the scaurs into great masses of birds that 
cluster together like bees, and after many 
wide sweeping movements, during which 
they dance over the waves in wild delight, 
now disappearing into the trough of the long 
rollers, only to rise at the next moment to 
the height of a hundred feet, turning their 
white breasts upwards to catch a ray of 
winter sunshine, and then reversing to display 
the contrast of their russet upper parts, finally 
alight upon some sea-washed prominence, such 
as Cardurnock Point, there to wait impatiently 
in one dense crowd, until the tide begins to 
turn, and they can once more fly down to 
I 209 P 
