PEAKE : THE AVI-FAUNA OF SETTLE AND UPPER RIBBLESDALE. 41 



Garrulus glandarius. Jay. So uncommon, that it is easily 



kept down by preservers of game. 

 Pica rustica. Common ; have seen as many as twenty together 



in January. Once found five nests in one tree, two with eggs. 



Corvus monedula. Jackdaw. Numerous ; finds very con- 

 venient nesting-places in the limestone scars. 



Corvus corone. Carrion Crow. Local name, ' Ket Crow/ 



Not uncommon ; congregate in winter ; have counted as many 

 as 29 together on the hills behind Stackhouse in January. 



I have a note of a Crow's larder found in the same direction, 

 where remains lay of the eggs of Lapwing, Partridge, Snipe, 

 Sparrowhawk, Blackbird, Thrush, Barn-door Fowl, and the 

 skulls of small Rabbits. A curious ash-coloured variety is in 

 Mr. Coulthurst's collection, killed in October 1885. A pearl 

 grey variety was shot near Coniston in December 1894. 



Corvus cornix. Hooded Crow. Has occurred at Coniston, 



e.g., October 1895. 

 Corvus frugilegus. Rook. Numerous. The weather seems 

 to make little or no difference in the date of beginning to 

 nest, judging from observations of a rookery at Beck House, 

 ( liggleswick. This rookery (which, by the way, is not * shot ') 

 varies little in the number of nests each year. 



Corvus corax. Raven. Some few still survive among these 



north-western hills, and breed if not molested. A keeper from 

 Dentdale told me this autumn that he knew of 11 that roosted 

 at one particular spot. I have seen them in November as near 

 Settle as the Attermire Cliffs, where their barking cries added to 



the wildness of the scene. 

 Cypselus apus. Swift. Not uncommon; arrives with regularity, 



I believe, about May 6th. 



Caprimulgus europaeus. Nightjar. Local name, ■ Night- 

 hawk/ Not common. The juniper bushes on Moughton are 

 a favourite resort. Their jarring noise is locally called 'hurring.' 

 I hear its flight-call of • pluck, pluck, pluck,' near Settle in May 

 and June at night. Some of the inhabitants, who do not 

 otherwise know the bird, call it by the name of 'Gabbieratchett/ 

 This seems to be a particular use of the name, though it may 

 also be used in a wider sense, of any birds whose cries, as they 

 pass over at night, are mysterious. In the * Ornithological 

 Dictionary * it is said ■ Mr. Chas. Swainson (Provincial Names 

 of British Birds, p. 98) gives u Gabbleratcbett * as a name of 

 the Nightjar, but satisfactory proof of that statement seems to 

 be wanting/ See also Lucas' 'Studies in Nidderdale.' 



Feb, *£ 9 6. 



