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Gentleman's Magazine 1794 p.327
notched at the end; the nostrils oval; upper mandible, head,
and back, of a mouse-colour tinged with yellow; a light
yellow line between each eye and the corresponding nostril;
wings of the same colour with the back, except that the
inner web of each quill is marked with a yellow margin; tail
long, consisting of eleven equal feathers of the same colour
with the back; under mandible brownish; throat and breast
white; thighs yellow; legs brownish; nails mouse-coloured;
under-side of the feet a deep yellow, as is the inside of
the bill. It appears here after the middle of April. Its
song consists of a succession of distinct loud notes
gradually decreasing in acuteness. It frequents hedges,
shrubberies, and such-like places. It builds a nest of
straws lined with hair, resembling that of the white-throat,
and lays generally five eggs of a dirty white colour, marked
at the thicker end with numerous dark-brown oval spots. the
bird here described can be no other than the Scotch warbler
of the "British Zoology;" though the author denies it to be
a separate species, in his "Arctic Zoology," on the
authority of a Swedish correspondent. We found the
Cardium Edule on the sands below Arnside point; and
the Fucus Filum, which is brought hither by the tide.
The rocks are covered with the Mytilus Edulis, Turbo
Littoreus, and Lepas Balanoides; they are also
clad with the Fucus Vesiculosus and F.
Canaliculatus. The Gulls, which were here numerous,
conisted of the three following species, Larus Canus, L.
ridibundus, and Winter-gull. Linnaeus makes this a
variety of the Larus Canus; and Berkenhour supposes
it to be the young of the same; but one was domesticated in
this country, and kept in a garden for four years without
changing its distinguishing marks; it ought, therefore, to
be considered as a distinct species.
The rare plants that grow in the salt ditches on the marsh,
the stony beach, and limestone rocks, may be thus
enumerated: Apium Graveolens, Auriplex Littoralis,
Cochlearia Danica, Triglochin Maritimum, Triticum Junceum,
PLantage Coronapus, Atropa Belladona, Chelidonium Glaucium,
Arenaria Tenuifolia, Polygonum Aviculare marinum, Roas
Arvensis, Crataegus Aria, Conyza Squarosa, Parietaria
Officinalis.
After following the beach about three miles beyond Arnside,
we discovered the Oniscus*.........icus
among the loose stones near low-water mark. This insect has
not yet found a place in the British catalogue. It runs
quickly, in which it differs from Oniscus Assellus as
well as in the structure of its tail.
This was the end of our excursions; for we returned leaving
the beach and keeping more on the sands, which were well
inhabited by the Lumbricus Marinus. We also picked up
the Tellina Carnaria, Medusa Aurita, and the
Alcyonium Bursa. The surface of our road was ruffled
here and there, so as to as to resemble the knap on frized
cloth. This appearance is occasioned by a minute shrimp, the
Canas Linearis, multitudes of which bore the sand
perpendicularly, each forming for its own use a long narrow
cell. It was well observed by my friend at the time, that,
if a portion of sand so perforated should happen to be
converted into stone, it would form a tubiporus every
way like that in the neighbouring rocks, the slenderness of
its tubes excepted. The remark was ingenius, and perhaps not
very inconsistent with the operations of Nature; for, though
the process of petrifaction is unknown, it is highly
probable, nay almost demonstrable, that the calcareous
strata occupying a vast extent of this country were
originally loose sand mixed with marine bodies, just as it
appears to be at this day in the capacious channel we have
been exploring. The remaining part of our route lay through
places already descibed; and the few new observations that
occured do not seem worthy of a place in this narrative.
Yours, *c.
X. Z.
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