Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/228

206 last time I ascended that mountain (which, however, is some years ago) I caught a glimpse (there being a thick mist at the time) of one running amongst the short bent just ahead of us. During the winter the Common Scoter (locally called "doucker") is very plentiful in Morecambe Bay, and on one occasion I shot a bird of this species on an inland tarn two or three miles from the sea. At high tide, especially in wild weather, large flocks of the common Wild Duck collect in the bay to the seaward side of the embankment of the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway, just where it crosses the estuary of the Leven, and apparently they pay but little attention to the passing trains. The Goldeneye is often seen during hard weather on the inland ponds and tarns, and a few years ago I shot a Tufted Duck on the Leven, which runs out of Windermere. That Woodcocks breed in the district is undoubted, nor do I think the fact at all exceptional, as they may frequently be seen on a summer evening in High Furness flitting past in the twilight. This particular portion of the district is almost an unbroken area of coppice-wood, and for this reason, as it seems to me, all endeavours to get up any considerable head of Pheasants have hitherto proved useless, as the birds have so far to run to reach any open cultivated space either for natural food or for sunning purposes. The Common Buzzard I have seen in Eskdale, and there also I have known the Marten (locally called "sweet mart," in contradistinction to the "foul mart," i.e. Polecat) to be trapped. The only instance I ever heard of a Badger being seen in this district was some years ago when one was run over by a train on the Furness Railway near Broughton. Hill Foxes are plentiful enough. Otters fairly so. Last year there was one of the latter which varied its scene of operations a good deal, sometimes choosing the Leven, sometimes the Crake, or the brook running down Rushand Valley. I do not think Woodcocks make their appearance here in autumn in anything like the numbers they did formerly. I remember, when a boy, an old farmer telling me he had in one season snared sixty with a "springe" set in the soft bottoms. Last season they were, however, rather more plentiful; but probably, as high farming progresses, increased drainage will still further lessen their numbers. Quantities of eels are caught every autumn in a fish-coop at a mill on the Leven. This migration from the lake only lasts a short time, during which I understand immense quantities come down the river; but the moment that the first snow whitens the tops of the highest hills the movement is suddenly and mysteriously checked.— (Woodcraft, Ulverston).

—From personal experience I am able to state that I have frequently seen goats eat yew with impunity. For many years I kept goats with my cows, but they used to get into my shrubberies and