BIRDS 97 



at Castlesteads. The sex of this specimen was not determined 

 by dissection, but the dress agrees exactly with that of the adult 

 male. We do not often enjoy an opportunity of hearing the 

 Blackcap's song in autumn, but Mr. A. H. Macpherson heard a 

 Blackcap singing at Keswick, on the 26th of September [1890]. 



GARDEN WARBLER. 



Sylvia hortensis (Bechst. ). 



The anonymous writer ' X. Z.' tells us that, when visiting 

 Arnside in 1793, he fell in with 'that variety of the Motacilla 

 Trochilus, called in Westmoreland a Strawmear.' 1 Dr. Gough has 

 independently shown that this name (which may have been 

 suggested by the light fabric of a Warbler's nest) is applied in 

 Westmorland to both species of Whitethroat and the Garden 

 Warbler. The latter was probably the species referred to by 

 'X. Z.' Its shy habits render it easy to under-estimate the 

 numbers of this Warbler, which is fairly distributed in Lake- 

 land, though hardly as abundant as the Blackcap. It is seldom 

 seen on the English Solway littoral. Indeed, Mr. Richard Mann 

 never met with it near Allonby until August 1890, when a 

 single bird was shot for identification as it skulked in a haw- 

 thorn hedge. 



GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 



Regulus cristatus, Koch. 



The Goldcrest is far from uncommon in our gardens and 

 plantations. It even nests in a solitary clump of small wind- 

 twisted firs in the middle of one of our mosses, and its affection 

 for particular spots is stronger than that of most small birds. 

 At no time during the last seven years has a Goldcrest omitted 

 to build in a certain tree at Rockliffe, although of course the 

 elevation of the nest has varied considerably. A good many 

 Goldcrests flit about our hedges in the winter-time, but the 

 spinnies of young larches and firs are their chief haunt. Some- 

 times they take very kindly to the river-side. I once saw a 



1 Gentleman's Magazine, 1794, p. 326. 

 G 



