259 

 BIRD-NOTES FROM THE MALHAM DISTRICT. 



HARRY B. I'.OOTH. 



In view of the approaching excursion of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union to Malham Cove and Gordale Scar, it may not be out of place 

 to give a few notes on the birds of that locality. I shall not attempt 

 a local list of the avi-fauna, but give simply a few short notes made 

 •during the periodical visits of my friends and myself to that delight- 

 ful and health-givmg district. Of the rare and accidental visitors 

 I shall not treat, but confine myself chiefly to those birds which any 

 ordinary observer may find if he only visits the place at the proper 

 season. 



On entering the valley the lover of birds cannot fail to be struck 

 with the great abundance of that beautiful bird the Yellow or Ray's 

 Wagtail {Motacilla rait) ; which seems to be nearly the most common 

 bird in the whole valley. On one occasion we noticed a nest and 

 ■eggs of this species right in the centre of the moor — a rather out-of- 

 the-way place for this species. Many pairs of the Grey Wagtail 

 {M. melanope) may be seen nesting on the mountain streams which 

 abound in this neighbourhood. Numbers of Dippers {Cindus 

 aqiiaticus) too, make the young river their home ; and here and there 

 a Kingfisher {Alcedo ispida) may be seen as he flies before us or cuts 

 across a field at a bend and joins the river again behind us. 

 In summer many Sandpipers {Tringo'ides hypoleucos) will be seen 

 gaily tripping along its banks ; or a Heron {Ardea cinend) may rise 

 close to us and almost leisurely wing his way to his home at Eshton 

 Hall, about six miles away and near Gargrave. On one occasion as 

 we passed through Airton — a small village about three miles before 

 the tourist arrives at Malham, either from Bell Busk, Gargrave or 

 Skipton — the quick ear of my friend, Mr. E. P. P. Butterfield, 

 •discovered the home of a pair of Pied Flycatchers {Muscicapa 

 .atricapilla) in a grand old ash-tree close to the low side of the 

 village ; a species new to Upper Airedale. Before leaving 

 Airton, I should like to mention a small pond about a mile and a 

 half towards Gargrave and in the second field from the road. Here, 

 •on the 23rd of May of the present year, we were much surprised to 

 find three Terns (sp.?) hawking over the water just like swallows. 

 They were not there when we had passed the same morning. We 

 thought they had got rather out of their line of migration. On the 

 same pond, the Coot {Fulica atnx) yearly breeds. If we approach 

 stealthily we may generally have a fine view of a Heron as he stands 

 apparently asleep in the shallow water, and the Sedge Warbler 



Sept. 1890. 



