THE NATURALIST IN NIDDERDALE. 415 
doubtless not without its influence on the leases of moors. They 
are most plentiful in the zone between 1000 and 1500 feet, and 
do not go much above 1700. Spots where bilberries ripen, kept 
moist by springs, and with a southerly exposure, attract them in 
autumn, though they le under a northern “edge” in the spring. 
For their nests they like broad shallow hollows with Springs at 
the edges, and a flat ridge, at least on one side, on to which 
they adjourn to crow and sun themselves. “ Cocklakes” is the 
name of one of these “ Riggs” on the moors, west of the River 
Washburn. What a flood of beauty is shed upon the word when 
we learn that it means the “ playing-ground” * of the moor-cock ! 
They build also in the peat in deep-stream courses. Here is a 
description of two nests :— 
No.1. May 10,1871. A light nest, beside a deep-stream course 
in sandstone. Made of round rushes, a few feathers mixed ; 
73 inches across. Seven eggs; pale grey, irregularly speckled 
and blotched. 
No. 2. Same date. Deep-stream course, in peat under tuft of 
grass; exposure N., sheltered. Made of grass; 7 inches across. 
Ten eggs. . 
Many young Grouse are hatched before this; and it is 
astonishing how fast they grow, how soon they are able to fly, 
and how strong they are on the wing. 
It has been my good fortune to spend nine successive years— 
spring, summer, autumn and winter—on and around the moors, 
and to have sat among the long heather, in the fresh spring. 
_ evenings, listening to the melodious clamour of the piping birds. 
Here I will fall back upon first impressions, lest. the picture 
should suffer from the rude touch of familiarity :—“ May 22, 1869. 
On Masham Moor, a glorious expanse of heather, lying to the 
north of Nidderdale, 1500 feet above the level of the sea, from 
6to8p.m. Air resplendently clear and transparent, not a cloud 
_ to be seen; the sun lighting up the moor. Grouse calling all- 
around, with Curlews wheeling in the air, and Golden Plovers 
swiftly skimming the ground; the Ring Ouzel suddenly rising on 
to some spray of heather, and uttering his melodious ‘tree, tree, 
tree’; the Snipe wildly flying high in air, with his peculiar 
knocking noise and startled whistle—hundreds on every side, all 
together in full chorus. The charm of the place, with its wildness, 
* Old Norsk leika, to play; leikr, a game or play. 
