Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/211

Rh dog, on the Denes, was brought me alive, on the 27th of that month. I have not seen a single specimen this year.

I trust that the rarity of some of the species here enumerated, will be sufficient apology for the length of this communication.

this week, for the first time, seen the four numbers of your 'Zoologist,' in which it is pleasant to observe much of the same kind of communications that gave such a charm to the early volumes of Loudon's 'Magazine of Natural History.'

Your invitation upon the wrapper of No. 1, to be supplied with contributions from all parts of the kingdom, and my own love of " Nature's works," induce me to court your acquaintance, and, as an introduction to you, I have enclosed a few remarks on the past winter and present spring.

The autumn of 1842 was remarkable for its continued dryness, the quantity of rain and number of rainy days in September, October and November, being unusually small. About the middle of October we experienced a severe fit of frost; indeed some of the nights and early mornings were fully as cold as they are in the depth of winter: nor was this low degree of temperature a mere matter of sensation, for on the mornings of the 20th and 21st a self-registering thermometer stood at 20°. This early appearance of frost promised well for the ornithologist; our lakes and inland tarns were visited by a number of ducks,—such as wigeons, golden eyes, tufted ducks and teals,—which generally arrive in flocks a month or six weeks later in the season.

The solitary snipe, an occasional winter visitor, was also more plentiful than I ever recollect previously, four or five specimens having been procured in the immediate neighbourhood of Kendal. This unexpected severe weather was, however, of short duration; the mildness which succeeded it, and continued, with one or two exceptions, through the season, prevented us having our accustomed influx of northern wanderers. The red-headed goosander has for many winters been a constant and plentiful visitor, birds both in mature and immature plumage being generally met with on fresh water; only