440 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Dove ? The position of the nest seems to favour this supposition, 

 though the Stock Dove is not included by Mr. Lucas amongst 

 the birds of Nidderdale. 



We have not space to follow him through the entire list, and 

 will therefore conclude our extracts with one relating to the 

 Eed Grouse, a bird which Mr. Lucas has had many favourable 

 opportunities for observing in its natural haunts : — 



" It has been my good fortune,'' he says, " to spend nine successive 

 years 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. 



" The Grouse is a capricious bird in its choice of residence. The fact 

 that they do not abound everywhere on the moors is doubtless not without 

 its influence on the leases of moors. They are most plentiful in the zone 

 between 11)00 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 may lie under a northern 'edge' in 

 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. ' Cock-lades ' is the name of one of these ' Biggs ' 

 on the moors, west ol the river Washburn. What a flood of beauty is shed 

 upon the word when we learn that it means ' the plaving-ground' of the 

 moor-cock! They build also in the peat in deep stream-courses. Hen is 

 a description of two nests: — No. 1, May 10, 1871. A light nest, beside a 

 deep stream-course in sandstoue. Made of round rushes, a few feathers 

 mixed ; 7i 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. 

 Mauy 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." 



In a Bummary of the Ornithology of the district (pp. 175, 

 176), Mr. Lucas gives a table showing the distribution of the 

 different species observed by him, and the various elevations at 

 which they were respectively met with. 



A Glossary of some of the words used in the dialects of 

 Nidderdale, with which the volume concludes, shows a con- 

 siderable amount of research, and forms a very useful appendix 

 to what is in many respects an interestiug, although, as we have 

 said, a not well-arranged book. 





