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Gentleman's Magazine 1794 p.112
principally of the bivalve kind, which are very frequently
mutilated. This vast mass of calcareous matter terminates in
an extensive field of the same, occupying the valley to the
South, In this part it rests on an elevated ridge of the
grey variety of the shistus fuscus, which is the
common stone of the country to the North, and even takes
place immediately on the East side of the river, where no
limestone appears parallel to the hill; but the natural rock
is never seen in the low grounds excepting by those who sink
deep wells; for, it is buried beneath a thick covering of
sand and pebbles, that forms the bed of the Kent, and
extends up the declivities on both sides of it to a height
far exceeding the limits of the present channel. The West
side of the Fell is steep, frequently perpendicular; and the
great quantity of limestone rubbish collected at the bottom
of the precipice is covered with underwood, and has been
famous since the time of Ray for a number of uncommon
plants. I can add to the list already to be found in
botanical works an early and undefined variety of the
cynosurus coeruleus, differing in the following
particulars from that noticed by Mr. Lightfoot. It grows in
the dry chinks of the rocks, flowers in the beginning of
April, and never exceeds six or eight inches in height. The
tevite, a kind of linnet, builds its nest on the
summit, either among loose stones, or under the stinted
junipers, which spread their branches over the mossy surface
of this barren soil, and heighten the picture of sterility
by their starved appearance. The dottrel, charadius
morinellus, also pays a short visit to this uninviting
spot at the first coming of the swallow, in its passage from
the seacoast to the interior mountains, where it spends the
summer, and lingers a few days on its return to
winter-quarters about the end of September.
At one o'clock in the afternoon, we directed our course
Southwards along the banks of the Kent; and, after walking a
little more than two miles, reached Haws-bridge, where the
whole body of the current forces its way through a deep and
narrow chasm in the limestone rock. Here the petrifactions
are, generally speaking, entrochites; in which
circumstance these strata differ from those we had examined
before. Near the bridge we found a complete but small
specimen of belmintholithus hamonites, imbedded in a
fragment of stone. The botany of the woods on the West side
of the river is various; but I shall only mention the
melampyrum sylvaticum, viburnum opulus, and
agaricus chantarellus, out of the great profusion of
plants afforded by this luxuriant place. Fahrenheit's
thermometer stood in the shade, a little after 3 P.M. at
67° and, at the same time, we found the temperature
of a very fine spring to be 46.5°.
Between 4 and 5 o'clock we entered Leven's Park on the East
side of Kent; the great quantity of woods in this delightful
pleasure-ground has invited to its shades a variety of small
birds, amongst which all the species of Parus were
observed, the Biarmicus excepted; and the
Motacilla Regulus was also plentiful, though an
uncommon bird in this part of Westmorland. The banks of the
river, as far as we had yet traversed them, were frequented
by the pied fly-catcher, Murcicapa Atricapilla, a
bird that is far from being uncommon in the hilly parts of
the North, though hardly known in the south of England. It
leads its young, as soon as they are fledged, to the sides
of brooks and rivulets, where they find shelter under the
spreadiing leaves of the tussilago petasites; its
food does not consist altogether of insects; for, the
gizzard of one I dissected contained a number of
minute seeds mixed with small stones.
The following description was taken from a young cock bird:
weight 13 dwts. length from the tip of the bill to the
origin of the tail 3 1/2 inches; breadth 8 1/2 inches; upper
part of the head glossy-black; neck surrounded with a broad
white ring; the limits of the black and white very well
defined; base of the bill flared, but not so conspicuously
broad as in the m. grisola; exterior feathers of the
tail white tipped with brown; inner web of the quill
feathers dirty white; coverts of the wings black with light
brown edges; legs fuscous, not black; under part of
the body of a dirty white, feathers being black tipped with
white. The water ouzel, [fl]urnus cinculus, occurred
frequently in the course of our walk. All the springs
between Haws-bridge and this place cover the withered
vegetables in their respective channels with a calcareous
crust; the water of these fountains is undoubtedly
impregnated with lime, suspended in it by an excess of
carbonic acid; this gass escaping, when it comes into
contact with the external air, leaves the earthy matter to
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