232 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



William Graham of Brampton stuffed this bird. Where it 

 exists at present I am unable to say, but Mr. H. P. Senhouse 

 found the Scaleby bird in the little inn at Kirkstyle, Lowes- 

 water. Mr. Wallace of Distington possesses an immature 

 Spoonbill, which enjoys the peculiarity of being the only 

 example authenticated hitherto from the west coast of Cumber- 

 land. It was killed by John Parker of the Tarn, Bootle, on the 

 22d of October 1864. 



Order ANSERES. Fam. ANA TIDjE. 



GKEY LAG GOOSE. 



Anser cinereus, Meyer. 



The Grey Lag Goose does not appear to have been a common 

 bird in Lakeland at any time, nor is there early evidence that it 

 nested with us. Had it done so at all freely, we should have 

 expected to find frequent notices of wild Geese among the birds 

 used for the table at Naworth. The only entries of this kind 

 refer to Geese shot in autumn, when migratory wildfowl could 

 be obtained as easily as home-bred birds. Thus, in 1620, we 

 have an entry between September 23 and 29: 'Awildgoose, 

 xij d .' In 1634 there occur similar ones; on Sept. 27 they 

 purchased one wilde gouse, viij d ./ and on the 4th of October, 

 1 2 willd gesse, xvj d .' These birds, shot in the neighbourhood of 

 Brampton, are quite as likely to have been Pinkfooted Geese as 

 Grey Lags. Richardson says that the Geese which used to 

 visit Ulleswater seldom stayed longer than a day or two except 

 during severe frost. Dr. Heysham says, * The grey goose is only 

 seen here in the winter, but breeds in many of the fens in 

 England.' It is evident that neither of these worthies had any 

 knowledge of the Grey Lag nesting in their districts, but it 

 must be remembered that in their time it was difficult to visit 

 the outlying parts of this wild faunal area. Hence their know- 

 ledge of local natural history was almost exclusively limited to 

 their own immediate neighbourhood. Dr. Heysham knew the 

 Carlisle district extremely well, but there is no evidence to 

 suggest that he had much acquaintance with the more remote 



