Lakeland Birds
It would be perhaps equally true to say that the Lakes were rich or deficient in bird life. At a rather elevated point above the grimmest of the lakes I saw few birds other than hawks. The little bit of garden was birdless. In the tenderer valley just over the hill birds of many species were numerous, and, as it happened, one observer made a list. Here it is. Robin, dunnock, chaffinch (locally known as scoppie), sparrow (locally chitty), blackbird, thrush, storm-cock, great, blue and coal tits, wren, tree-creeper, bullfinch, starling, buzzard, sparrowhawk, kestrel, raven, curlew, plover, jay, magpie, wood-pigeon, long-tailed tit, dipper (or Betsy Dowker), pied wagtail, cormorant, whooper swan, coot, mallard, wild geese (migrating), rooks, jackdaws (in thousands), greenfinch, yellow- hammer, brambling, reed bunting, green woodpecker, heard but not seen. All these were carefully recorded in the month of February in the neigh- bourhood of Keswick. How sharply is this serene valley contrasted with the fells and passes west of Scafell
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