Varley : Eleven Days in Cumberland. 



21 



dinner I also saw the female, so I thought there must be a nest, and 

 after a careful search I found it, with six beautiful eggs in ; I pro- 

 cured the birds and nest, with the eggs. I then made my way back 

 to Brampton, well pleased with my day's sport, and my friend Mr. 

 Parkin set the birds up for me. 



May 31 : We started for another ramble down the banks of the 

 river Irthing, crossing the fields into a lane that leads to the old 

 parish church, which is a mile and a half from the town, and is only 

 used as a cemetery. We then crossed the fields again and came upon 

 a large bed of fine water-cress, and on reaching the banks of the 

 Irthing, saw many gulls, swifts, and sand-martins, and in some places 

 the banks were perforated with holes by the martins. In walking 

 down, we came upon a sandpiper's nest with four eggs in, and as we 

 proceeded further down we came to some large trees over-grown with 

 ivy, in which we could see there was something roosting; commenced 

 beating, and out came two tawny owls. Hearing a strange cry from 

 some large bird overhead, I looked up, and saw a pair of ravens 

 crossing the river to some cliffs in the distance. 



June 1 : I had another stroll further down the banks of the Irthing, 

 and found a sandpipers nest, with four young ones just hatching ; the 

 old bird tumbled over and over to attract my attention from the nest. 

 I also found the blackheaded bunting's nest, with four eggs, and a 

 nest of the sedge warbler ; on my way home I saw Eticlidia mi^ and E. 

 glyphica flying over some grass fields. 



June 2 : Mr. Parkin's son and I started for another ramble to the 

 Gelt. It was very hot and butterflies were not so plentiful as before. 

 We took Euclidia mi and E. glyphica, and a few small things. Tits 

 and goldcrests were in profusion, but we could find no nests, except 

 a squirrel's, at which we threw a stone, and out came the old one 

 and ran up to the top of a high spruce fir. On our return by an old 

 lane full of gorse and briers we found larvas of Odonestes potatoria. 



Saturday being very wild and wet we worked inside setting our 

 specimens. 



June 4 : Parkin and I started by rail for Gilsland Spar. Rosehill 

 station is a beautiful place. Nature may here be seen in her quietest 

 and lovelist aspect — balmy pathways through retired dells, sparkling 

 rivulets — 



Which clatter over stony ways 



In little sharps and trebles, 

 overhanging rocks, whose rugged fissures bear witness to some great 

 perturbation of the earth in time past. Passing along from Rosehill 



