464 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



NATTERJACK TOAD. 



Bufo calamita, Laur. 



Dr. Heysham appears to have received a description of this 

 Toad from the English shores of the Solway Firth, but not to 

 have been able to verify the fact by personal investigation. 

 His cautiously expressed belief that this amphibian, so whim- 

 sical in its distribution in Great Britain, was found ' upon the 

 sandy grounds, in the neighbourhood of Allonby,' has been more 

 than justified by subsequent experience. Mr. Tom Duckworth 

 at one time knew a large colony of Natterjacks, established in 

 the neighbourhood of Silloth. He also captured a number of 

 specimens near Bowness on Solway. I have myself captured 

 examples at Silloth. Several Natterjack Toads have been 

 supplied to me during the last ten years from the kitchen 

 garden at Castletown. There, these Toads manifest a partiality 

 for the shelter afforded by the bottom of a thick yew hedge. 

 I am unable to say whether the Natterjack occurs in any 

 numbers on the west coast of Cumberland, but its presence in 

 the neighbourhood of Egremont was ascertained some years 

 ago, when a Natterjack was captured alive and sent for deter- 

 mination to Dr. I'Anson of Whitehaven. It was exhibited by 

 that gentleman before the members of the Whitehaven Scientific 

 Association, and a correct description of the specimen went the 

 round of the local press. 1 The late Dr. Gough appears to have 

 been the first to ascertain the existence of this Toad in West- 

 morland. He stated in 1861 that the Natterjack was to be 

 found ' in quarries on the lime-kilns on Kendal-fell.' In the 

 year 1865 he presented two specimens of the Natterjack 'from 

 Kendal-fell ' to the local museum. 2 From a MS. note left by 

 the same naturalist he appears to have found the Natterjack 

 abundant at Levens, Westmorland. As to the Lancashire 

 portion of Lakeland, I need only add that Mr. W. Duckworth 

 discovered a fine colony of Natterjacks near Ulverston in the 

 summer of 1888. 



1 Carlisle Journal, May 19, 1868. 



2 Thirtieth Annual Report of the Kendal Literary and Scientific In- 

 stitution, p. 4. 



