BIRDS 251 



cry arose among the water-fowl, ' Heigh ! stop that fellow ! ' and 

 every bird rushed pell-mell after the fugitive. A Barnacle ran 

 like a lurcher, and caught up the duck, which dropped the 

 crust in alarm. The Barnacle stood triumphantly over the 

 coveted morsel. Some herring-gulls tripped up and disputed 

 the crust with the goose. The old duck pecked about the 

 grass, suddenly ran in, picked up the crust from between the 

 disputing parties, and rushed away across the turf. The Barnacle 

 pursued, and just as he was about to overhaul the mallard, the 

 latter dropped the crust and tore a big piece out of it, leaving 

 only a moiety to the bully. 



When the tide of the Solway begins to ebb, and isolated sand- 

 banks appear above a wild waste of waters, Barnacles often rise 

 off Eockliffe marsh, and alight again on the first bars exposed, 

 there to linger until another and more extended sand-bank 

 becomes dry. Other variations occur in their daily routine, 

 such as alighting in the shallows of the estuary, and marching 

 in a line to the brow of the marsh opposite, which gained, 

 they range themselves along the edge of the loose turfs of 

 the saltings ; or again, they alight in the water and swim a 

 short distance. They are never long silent, neither do they 

 associate with other fowl. They generally leave the Solway in 

 March and April, but sometimes a few linger into May. At 

 that season, pinioned Barnacles exhibit much restlessness and 

 display symptoms of the migratory impulse by their loud calls. 

 Those shot in open weather are considered to be good eating, 

 but they only bring about eighteenpence apiece to the poor 

 fishermen who kill them for the market. The ganders are 

 the largest birds, and can be distinguished externally from 

 females by the shape of their cranium. 



MUTE SWAN. 



Cygnus olor (Gmel.). 



We have no evidence to show at what date the Mute Swan 

 was first placed upon our private waters. Certainly not later 

 than the seventeenth century, because Machel alludes to the fact 

 as already complete : ' There were swanes formerly kept on the 



