408 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



WHIMBEEL 



Numenius phceopus (L. ). 



The Whimbrel visits Morecambe Bay and the more open 

 portions of the Solway in considerable numbers from the end of 

 April until May is well advanced, while odd birds prolong their 

 stay with us far into the month of June, frequenting the edge 

 of the estuaries. The greater number of those which visit us 

 in spring obtain a large proportion of their food on rough 

 pasture land. Immature birds occur in August and September, 

 but only in small numbers, even in the usual haunts of this 

 species. Their visits to the upper salt marshes, such as Rockliffe, 

 are highly irregular. Mr. A. Smith assured me that a Whimbrel 

 which he shot on September 23, 1889, out of a party of three, 

 was the first that he had killed on RocklhTe marsh for a good 

 many years. I have never met with a AVhimbrel in winter, 

 except one killed near Silloth in November 1883. Dr. Gough's 

 private notes record that two Whimbrel were shot at Arnside 

 in the month of ' March,' which seems early. In the interior 

 of Lakeland the Whimbrel is known only as a cross-country 

 migrant. On the 11th of May 1890 we heard some Whimbrel 

 passing over Carlisle about 11.27 p.m., calling loudly. The 

 night was dark and rainy. The Whimbrel appeared to be 

 migrating in a north-easterly direction. 



Order GA VIJE. Fam. LARIDjE. 



Sub-fam. STERNIN^E. 



BLACK TERN. 



Hydrochelidon nigra (L.). 



The earliest note relating to this species that I have come 

 across is a record that, during the autumn of 1835, two or three 

 young Black Terns were observed frequenting the Eden, and 

 that one of the number was killed a little below Eden Bridge, 

 Carlisle, on the 12th of September. 1 An unpublished note of 

 T. C. Heyshain, dated August 19, 1848, states: ' Taylor of 



1 Loudon, Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ix. 1836. 



