110 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



creeks of the Solway, particularly in the month of October, 

 when the edge of the marsh is also favoured in the same way. 

 These birds appear to be only resting on migration ; but some 

 individuals undoubtedly spend all the winter among the sand- 

 banks to the west of Silloth, in company with a few Skylarks 

 and Meadow Pipits. Furze is generally absent from these sand- 

 dunes, and the only cover is that of the bents, which grow plenti- 

 fully. In bad weather, therefore, the Wrens take shelter in 

 the rabbit-holes, which honeycomb some portions of the bank 

 above the beach. 



Order PA SSERES. Fam. MO TA CILLIDM. 



WHITE WAGTAIL. 



Motacilla alba, Linn. 



Whether the White Wagtail visits Westmorland or Furness 

 on vernal migration I cannot say. It is one of the few points 

 which still remain to be determined by those who live in the 

 southern portion of our area. Its presence has not been ascer- 

 tained as yet by any of my ornithological acquaintances, but its 

 detection will come in time. I had not the least difficulty in 

 finding this species resting on vernal migration in Cumberland, 

 in which county it has repeatedly occurred to our most compe- 

 tent observers. T. C. Heysham, for example, wrote to Yarrell, 

 in February 1837, expressing his conviction that Motacilla alba 

 would be found in the southern counties of England occasionally 

 as soon as its specific characters became widely known. In a 

 letter of June 1st, 1842, also addressed to Yarrell, Heysham 

 states : ' About a fortnight ago a fine male White Wagtail of 

 the Continent (M. alba, Lin.) was killed near Carlisle, and 

 another was seen in a different locality a week or two previous. 

 This I believe is only the second instance of the capture of this 

 bird in England.' He wrote to Doubleday on July 23d, 1842 : 

 ' In April last I had the pleasure of seeing for the first time a 

 specimen of the Pied Wagtail of the Continent alive about ten 

 miles from this place, and soon afterwards another was killed 

 about a mile from Carlisle, which I saw after it was shot.' Loose 

 notes of the same naturalist record that he saw a White Wagtail 



