46 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



During some winters the Grouse have been so hard 

 pressed as to quit the heather in numbers, and we 

 have then known them actually to be taken in the 

 streets of Sheffield! With a moderate winter, how- 

 ever, the birds manage fairly well, snow-storms being 

 always the most fatal to them. Upon the return of 

 spring, given an absence from disease, the birds soon 

 get into prime condition again; most of the weakly 

 ones have been weeded out, and the surviving stock 

 of vigorous birds are ready to propagate their kind. 



But we must now leave the Red Grouse crowing 

 so lustily to each other amongst the heather, and 

 devote a portion of our space to the many other 

 feathered dwellers upon the moors and heaths. 

 Perhaps it may be best to clear off the few Pas- 

 serine species first. These are all birds of migra- 

 tory habits, although some are greater travellers 

 than others. Beginning with those that journey 

 the shortest distance, we may notice first the 

 Meadow Pipit. Although by no means an exclu- 

 sively moorland bird, the Meadow Pipit is almost 

 universally distributed over these wastes between 

 spring and autumn, wherever the ground is wet. 

 Almost to a bird these Pipits leave the South 

 Yorkshire moors during September and October. 

 We used sometimes to meet with odd birds on the 

 rough grounds below the moors during winter, but, 

 speaking generally, the migrational movement is 



