340 THE SPIDERS OF THE TYNE VALLEY. 



are carpeted with verdant moss, and dotted over with clumps 

 of rushes. Others in the form of heather-grown knolls emerge 

 from the shelter of the tallest trees and bask in the sunshine. 

 In the heart of these woods there is a deep silence, broken at 

 intervals by the piercing and monotonous calls of the titmice, 

 the needle-like song of the golden-crest, the cooing of the 

 wood pigeons, and the rippling voice of the yellow-hued 

 wood wren. 



Other woods like those of St. John Lee are perched on the 

 side of some hill. They are well drained and comparatively 

 dry. Deciduous trees are here more in evidence, dominated 

 by the beech with its rounded trunk, so suggestive of giant 

 limbs turned suddenly into wood. Such woods are breezy 

 and open, they are filled with bird and animal life, and their 

 spider fauna differs considerably from that of the deep, silent, 

 mossy woods described above. In due season they are 

 carpeted with primroses, anemones, wood sorrel, and garlic, 

 or enamelled with countless blue hyacinths. The river banks 

 also are worthy of study. In places there are great beds of 

 water-worn stones and shingle ; in places dunes composed 

 of blown sand, similar in form, and somewhat in fauna, to 

 those of the sea coast. Beds of rushes are also present, but 

 the river is a rapid shallow one, it does not tend to form 

 swamps, and its banks are generally dry and grassy. 



There are several extensive tracts of heather in the district, 

 but unfortunately they are all at some little distance from 

 Hexham. There is one that rises from, and is surrounded by 

 Dipton Wood. This was once covered with trees, but these 

 have now been felled, and the heather is struggling with newly 

 planted foot-high conifers. The largest and boldest however 

 is that of Blanchland Common, or Blanchland Moor, as it is 

 sometimes called. This rises to an elevation of over 1300 feet. 

 It sweeps in bold curves along the sky line, and is dotted with 

 the turf-built shelters used by the grouse shooters. In places 

 there are emerald patches of moss marking the position of 

 bogs, but most of the surface is. covered with dry, short, 

 rustling heather. Here the grouse may be seen in skimming 



