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kinds of buzzards, (viz.) the black buzzard,a bird larger
than some of the eagles, but whose flight is dull and heavy,
and is not so fierce as the eagle: what they live upon I
cannot tell; I have robbed and visited their nests, which
(like the eagle) are always in a rock, yet I never saw any
provision for their young; they are certainly a very lazy
bird. The brown buzzard is considerably less, but in all its
actions and manner of building resembles the other; their
voices too are alike, and resemble that of a cat when she is
begging for provisions. The kite, (or glead) is a native of
this country, and builds in trees, and, like both the
aforementioned, has not more than two eggs at a time: they
provide for their young, fish, flesh of any kind they can
get, frog-spawn, snails, &c. They are a dull, heavy,
inactive bird, with longer wings and tail than the buzzard.
The tail seems to contribute much to their motion, for I
have often observed them move forwards, up and down, without
any perceptible motion of their wings.
I cannot help here relating what a Mr George Browne,
attorney at law, from Troutbeck near Winandermere, and
myself once saw. As we were riding along Ulswater side in
Gowbarrow, near Ewe Cragg, we observed a kite in the air
that had caught an eel, with which it was struggling, (for
the eel we could perceive to be alive;) we rode after it,
cracking our whips, and roaring as loud as we could; after
some time it let the eel fall, which we took up alive: how
this kite could catch such a fish I cannot tell, for it
weighed fourteen ounces.
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Ravens we have few, owing I suppose to the reward given for
killing them; they build their nests in rocks, and lay four
eggs. Hawks we have of all kinds I ever heard of, except the
soar-hawk, and perhaps that too; but we have now no such
name for any I have seen. The osprey I have seen: there was
a nest a few years ago of this bird in Whinfield Park, they
seem to be of the hawk kind, and are about the size and
colour of a magpye; in what manner fish are charmed by them
let others tell, for I cannot: I saw one fly into the rock
at the giant's cave, and on its crossing the river there,
the fish sprung to the top, and remained six or eight
seconds as if intoxicated. The other birds are such as the
rest of the kingdom in general produce, except the pheasant
which we have not.
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Of quadrupeds. - The first is the red deer, which is
bred upon the tops of the mountains in Martindale, and are
exceeding wild, never being fed in Winter; they always seek
for and abide in the highest places, and feed on herds; one
always keeping watch in the day-time, which keeps snuffing
and looking about: this is always a stag, and so delicate is
their smell, that they will give notice of an enemy at 300
yards distance, if on the wind-side of them. In the
Highlands of Scotland they tell you that it seldom happens
that a man can get a shot at any of them, except the deer
which is upon watch: if he is wounded with the shot, so that
he is unable to follow the herd, he immediately turns upon
the man, who throws himself upon his back, having his durk
in his hand; the stag then cannot conveniently get at him
with his horns, but tramples upon him with his feet, and
when standing over him, the man frequently finds an
opportunity to run his durk into the deer. If a stag is
wounded, and yet able to follow the herd, he joins them, and
does not shew the least pain or uneasiness, though he will
sometimes fall down in sight of you; at others, if you can
perceive him wounded, and have a dog to hunt him, he will be
found hid in the heath or rocks as soon as ever he has got
out of your sight: They will sometimes take several shots to
kill them after the first wounding, but if you have a hound
dog with you they will not turn.
The stag sometimes in harvest, in the dead of the night,
leaves the mountains and comes into the corn-fields, lays
himself down on one side to feed, and slides in that
situation along a furrow to fresh places, not getting upon
his feet, and thus with his body destroys more corn than he
eats; if he stays two or three days, he so over-eats himself
that he is easily run down. In 1786, one in Martindale did
not run above two miles before a couple of hounds till he
dropt down dead. In rutting time, if two stags meet that are
each of them masters of herds *, a battle ensues, and
dreadful is the conflict; they are next to the game-cock for
agility; they walk round each other to get a push at the
body if they can, but the other generally catches his
adversary's head with his own, and such a clash of horns is
then heard as would astonish any man; then they will push at
each other like two bulls, then fetch a run like two rams;
and so fixed are their eyes upon each other, that a person
may sometimes get within twenty yards of them, and a good
while before either of them discover him. Their engagement
often lasts half an hour, and they frequently break their
horns, sometimes near the head, or near the middle: which
ever is conquered generally flies his country several miles,
often crossing Ulswater, and never again returning; the
other then reigns sovereign of both herds, and unites them
as a conquered country to his own. The conquered stag
hath been known to live many years quite alone: In the 1741,
a deer which laid a considerable way out of the forest was
complained of by farmers: the keeper, therefore, sent his
servant John Brown, with a fox-hound called Rockwood
to fetch him into the forest or kill him. The dog soon
roused the deer, and run him upwards of 20 miles, when he
came to How-Town, (see Plate IV.) as if to take the
Lake: He did not, however, but running along-side of it
three miles, crossed it at the foot, and ascended
Dunmallard. He then crossed by Soulby-Fell and run towards
Dacre, where Mr Hassel met him with his whole kennel of
hounds, and they pursued him to Hutton John, where he was
harboured: Rockwood soon roused him, and drove him full in
the face of Mr Hassel's dogs, but they were unable to take
him. He then, (to use my informer's words,) "run thro' the
whole pack like a hare through a flock of sheep," though he
had followed the deer
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