BIRDS 319 



this proviso, we may divide Cumberland, temporarily, into four- 

 arbitrary and artificial, yet obvious and convenient, divisions. 



(A) East Cumberland. No birds were reported during the 

 spring from Penrith, Alston, or Renwick, though all possible 

 inquiries were made. Mr. J. J. Baillie informed me that some 

 Sand Grouse were seen in Northumberland, about thirteen miles 

 east of Alston. Had these continued their course westward, no 

 doubt they would have crossed Cumberland. As it is, only the 

 north-eastern corner of the county is known to have been 

 favoured. Near Stapleton ' a lot of five, and on the same day 

 another lot of three,' were seen by Mr. H. J. Lorraine of West- 

 field House. At Wintershields, near Bewcastle, a flock of * about 

 twenty' came under the notice of Mr. Richardson, while fre- 

 quenting a small moss for two or three days. Neither of these 

 gentlemen could furnish an exact date, but both referred the 

 occurrence to April. Near Longtown two flights of about a 

 dozen birds were observed by Robert Moscrop, gamekeeper to 

 Major Irwin, flying very rapidly towards the west. * At first I 

 thought,' he wrote, ' they were Golden Plover, as they much 

 resembled their flight, but they were larger, and darker of 

 plumage, and uttered a peculiar " chuck-cho-chuck " as they flew 

 along well up in the air.' Mr. Moscrop was at first under the 

 impression, like the gentlemen just mentioned, that he had seen 

 the birds in April ; but a reference to his diary proved indis- 

 putably that the correct date on which he observed the second 

 drove was May 21, and he accounted for his first impression 

 by the coldness of the season. No more birds were seen (or at 

 least reported) from East Cumberland until August 10, when a 

 flock crossed the Esk at Birrell's weir, near Floriston, in view of 

 Major Hogg and Mr. Routledge, who were fishing at the time. 

 Major Hogg kindly furnished the following statement: 'I should 

 say that I saw about thirty-five birds, not more. I saw them 

 twice, but they were the same flock evidently. They appeared 

 to me darker in plumage than the bird we find in such numbers 

 in India, where it is called by the natives " Guttoo," from the 

 continued call it makes when flying.' 



(B) Cumbrian Plain. — A flock of six or seven appeared in 

 some fields near Orton, on the northern edge of the Cumbrian 



