2 54 



Armitt: The Birds of Rydtii. 



Common Bittern. Botaurus stellaris (L.). The Bittern 

 I have no record of in the parish. One was shot at the head of 

 Windermere a few years back. Another was shot at High Cross 

 Tarn, above Hawkshead Hall, by Mr. James Cowper, who has 

 the specimen stuffed. 



Lapwing. Vanellus vanellus (L. ). Summer visitant. 

 Nests still in one or two of the marshy hollows of Loughrigg. 

 Arrives on the Esthwaite Marsh in a large flock in February, 

 but does not disperse to the higher breeding stations on the low 

 fells till about middle of March. I have a note of its arrival 

 on the marsh on xoth January 1890 ; and was told of a flock 

 on Grasmere Marsh on 14th January 1900; but these too-early 

 incursions are followed by withdrawals. 



Common Curlew. Numenius arquatus (L.). Occasional 

 visitor only, as it no longer breeds on Loughrigg. Its quavering 

 cry is heard in early spring, as it moves to its nesting quarters, 

 on the rough heights (Black Fell, Hawkshead Moor, etc.) round 

 the head of Esthwaite Lake. In the late summer of 1898, when 

 I had word that it was unusually numerous on its breeding 

 ground, it pushed the incursions it makes into the Esthwaite hay 

 meadows (when these were shorn of grass) so far as this parish. 

 Nine or ten birds were about in the last days of July. Farmers 

 regard these incursions as a sign of bad weather, as they are 

 more marked in a rainy season, when the fields are soft. 



Common Sandpiper. Tringoides hypoleucos (L.). Sum- 

 mer visitant. Several pairs nest upon the lake each summer. 

 Last season (1899) they were so numerous that I met with six in 

 one quarter mile of shore. Several of the nests were placed at 

 some distance from it. One was in a patch of Arum maculatum. 

 15th April ; 6th August. 



Jack Snipe. Limnocryptes gallinula (L. ). Winter visitant. 

 On the marsh at the head of the lake. Latest date on Esthwaite 

 Marsh, where it also is regularly, 4th April 1894. To the latter 

 place comes the Common Snipe to breed. I cannot find it on 

 the Rydal Marsh, though Mr. Wykeham-Martin says it nested 

 there in his time. Probably the noisy traffic of the adjacent 

 highroad has banished it. 



Woodcock. Scolopax rusticola L. Permanent resident. 

 Breeds regularly in the deep enclosed woods ; cocks may be seen 

 ' flighting' in the season from at least three different quarters of 

 the parish. Mr. Wykeham-Martin has seen seven birds on the 



Naturalist, 



