IXTEODrCIIO>\ Til 



but of these a few are included on wliat appear to be insufficient 

 grounds : the number may therefore be put down at two hun- 

 dred and eighty, making at present a few more than are recorded 

 in our district, an area of not much greater extent than that 

 embraced by Mr. Stevenson's list. 



The great numerical extent of our catalogue is to be accounted 

 for by the diversity in the physical features of the district, 

 which are well suited to the habits of many tribes of the fea- 

 thered race. Our extensive seaboard lies in the direct line of 

 the annual migrations to and from the northern latitudes, and is 

 well fitted to the requirements of many species of sea fowl. The 

 coast in many parts is bold and rocky, but is agreeably varied 

 with beautiful sandy beaches of vast extent, backed with wild 

 hummocky "links," and not unfrequently with belts of bog and 

 pools of sedgy water. There is also no want of muddy flats or 

 estuaries, though these features are fast disappearing under the 

 necessities of commerce. 



The northern and western portions of the counties are wild 

 and hilly. The Cheviot range attains an elevation of two thou- 

 sand six hundred and fifty-eight feet, and this, along with that 

 of Simonside, gives quite a sub-alpine character to this portion 

 of the country. In these uplands the Eagle and Peregrine Pal- 

 con formerly had their abode. The latter reared its young there 

 until within the last twenty or thirty years. For many years it 

 nested regularly on Thrunton Crags, near "Whittingham. I saw 

 this eyry in 1835. The parents had that year been destroyed, 

 and I believe it has not bred there since. The western part of 

 Durham is also wild, moory, and mountainous, but of less eleva- 

 tion. These wild regions are characterized by vast tracts of 

 grass land, in some places fine, in others coarse, boggy, and hum- 

 mocky; and by extensive moors of heath, gorse, and bracken, 

 with swamps, mosses, tarns, and lochs, the resort of the Duck, 

 the Lesser Black-backed Gull, the beautiful Black-headed Gull, 

 the Lapwing, the Curlew, the Plover and Snipe, the Blackcock 

 and Grouse. ITumerous lively streams in pebbly beds, and whim- 

 pering rills, diversified with little lippering cascades, abound; 

 some almost concealed under the scrubby foliage of their banks ; 



