392 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



reference to the Sanderling as ' not remaining to winter ' is still 

 true in the main, the bird being of course chiefly a spring 

 visitant. Curiously enough, T. C. Heysham turns out to have 

 studied the birds of Cumberland for very many years before he 

 came across a Sanderling in winter dress, witness the following 

 extract from a letter of his to James Cooper, dated December 

 13, 1844 : 'I have this moment received the enclosed Sander- 

 ling, which I understand was shot on Burgh marsh a few days 

 ago, and as it is the only one in winter plumage that has been 

 met with in Cumberland to my knowledge, I am rather anxious 

 to have it preserved.' The only examples that I happen to 

 have seen from Morecambe Bay were shot in summer dress by 

 Mr. Murray of Carnforth. 



BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. 



Tryngites rufescens (Vieill.). 

 The comparatively short distance at which Burgh marsh is 

 situated from Carlisle has long rendered it a favourite shooting 

 ground for such of our working men as happen to possess a taste 

 for rough shooting. In September 1876 a man named John 

 Dawson was shooting on this marsh near the monument of 

 Edward I., when he fell in with a small Sandpiper which 

 proved to belong to this species. He pinioned it by his first 

 shot, and was therefore able to secure it almost undamaged. 

 It was skinned and mounted by his brother George Dawson the 

 shoemaker, in whose possession it has remained ever since. 

 Mr. Hill of Carlisle saw it skinned. 



COMMON SANDPIPER. 



Totanus hypoleucus (L. ). 



For six months of the year the Common Sandpiper is one of 

 our most widely distributed birds, nesting in the neighbourhood 

 of most of the lakes, tarns, and rivers within our area. It 

 seldom arrives before the middle of April, often in small flocks, 

 which soon pair off and disperse themselves along the banks 

 of our wooded streams. In 1891 Mr. F. W. Bailey observed a 

 single Common Sandpiper on the 11th of April, but that is 



