Birds. 9681 



which infest the gooseberry -bushes, of which he must destroy immense 



quantities. 



Edward R. Alston. 

 Stockbriggs, Lesmaliagow, June 6, 1865. 



Notes on Birds taken during a few Days' Ramble in Craven. 

 By George Roberts, Esq. 



■ Craven, with all its wonderful natural curiosities, is so well known 

 that it is almost needless to say a word about its physical features or 

 its situation ; but, for the benefit of the few who may not have visited 

 it, and for the better understanding of the brief notes below, I may be 

 allowed to remark that it forms the north-western division of York- 

 shire, and that the face of the country consists of high, treeless moors, 

 and hills covered with grass, ling or heather, and deep, often narrow 

 and precipitous and partially wooded dales, being, in short, a part of 

 the Pennine chain of hills, which commences in Derbyshire and runs 

 northward into Scotland. 



Falconid(B. — The merlin breeds here, but is not so plentiful as it 

 was formerly. 



Laniadce. — Last winter Mr. Ellison, a friend of mine, at Ingle- 

 borough, captured a great gra}' shrike. 



MeruUdce. — Dippers are common : a boy that 1 fell in with had got 

 above a score of eggs : the dipjjer builds in caves and under bridges, 

 and often down in the sides of the dismal " swallow-holes." The ring 

 ouzel breeds here in numbers, being a true moor-bird : it builds in the 

 wildest parts of the moors: its note is harsh, and is made generally 

 when perching on or flitting from a rock. The missel thrush occurs 

 in the dales. 



Syh'iadee. — I saw very few robins. Redstarts are frequent : from 

 my sleeping-room at Clapham, at the foot of Ingleborough, I listened 

 for two hours before six o'clock in the morning, to a short, unwearied, 

 but soft and incessantly repeated bird's song that I was not very well 

 acquainted with, but which interested and amused me much : when 

 I arose I hastened into the back garden, the direction of the sound, to 

 ascertain the author of my entertainment, and I soon found it to be a 

 male redstart. The stonechat, whinchat and wheatear occur in 

 moderate numbers; the stonechat and wheatear mainly on the moors; 

 the whinchat both on the moors and in the dales : I think there is a sort 

 VOL. XXIII. 2 Q 



