BIRDS 131 



making some pieces of water near his house. In 1890 I was 

 surprised to find one pair nesting in a ridge of sand near the 

 Carlisle water-works. The bank did not exceed eighteen inches 

 in height, and was situated on a flat meadow. It would have 

 been interesting to have seen the little birds rear their young in 

 such a position, but they were driven away by the public. A 

 quarry near Castleton, in which these birds nested, was much 

 infested by stoats in 1889. The nests were placed in a sandy 

 slope, easy of access to the stoats, which entered them in search 

 of eggs or young birds. The labourers were anxious to protect 

 the birds. Their foreman killed no less than four Stoats, being 

 attracted by the excitement evinced on each occasion by the 

 Sand Martins. A great number of these birds perished all over 

 Lakeland in May 1886, in consequence of want of food and sharp 

 weather. On the 15th of that month Mr. William Duckworth 

 visited Rockliffe, and ' beneath the cliffs the ground was thickly 

 strewn with dead birds, H. rustica, C. urbica, and C. riparia being 

 in almost equal numbers. Many of the colonies of the Sand 

 Martin have been cleared out, not a single bird being left.' 1 



Order PASSERES. Fam. CERT HID jE. 



TREE CREEPER. 



Cerihia familiaris, L. 



The Creeper is fairly common in the woods of Lakeland, and 

 may often be seen hunting for insects about the larger trees, 

 both alone and in company with other small species. It gene- 

 rally nests behind rafters or loose pieces of bark. A nest 

 examined on the 28th of May this year [1891] was snugly 

 stowed away behind the bark of one of the elms at Edenhall. 

 It was only about twenty-four inches off the ground, and con- 

 tained two young ones nicely feathered. The space between the 

 trunk and the bark was so contracted that the nest was closely 

 compressed ; indeed, the two little birds were tightly packed 

 into the interior. When we broke off a bit of bark, and took 

 one of the young birds out, the other attempted to escape. 

 1 Travis. Cumberland and Westmorland Assoc, No. xi. p. 148. 



