Gents Mag 1794 p.112

---

	introduction
	list, 4th qtr 18th century
	previous page next page
	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
	subside,
	next page
	gazetteer links
	-- Dropping Well
	-- "Haws Bridge" -- Hawes Bridge
	-- Kendal Fell
	-- Levens Park
	-- -- Scout Scar

Lakes Guides menu.

---