128 Upper Coquetdale Natural History Notes. 



arises from their being entirely covered in the higher altitudes 

 with a green and also a brown lichen, which grow thickly, very 

 much the same as grass or heather would do with us. These 

 lichens are quite dry to the touch after long exposure to the sun, 

 and crumble in the hand ; but they give a good foothold to the 

 climber, being compact and springy to the tread, and making 

 mountaineering comparatively easy. They also afford food for 

 wintering cattle, being gathered and heaped together in the 

 autumn, and in the winter brought down in sledges over the 

 snow to the homesteads. Another use these lichens have, and 

 which in a geological sense may be considered a very important 

 one in such a rocky country as Norway, is their tendency to 

 pulverise and disintegrate. The small particles, being carried 

 down by the rains and melting snow from the mountain slopes, 

 serve to make the beginnings of the soil that in the crevices and 

 valleys eventually comes under cultivation. 



The traveller who visits the Dovrefjeld, and who may reside 

 sufficiently long at its hospitable inns, will find that there are 

 ample resources around him for recreation and enjoyment, and 

 he will also become acquainted with the manners and customs of 

 its interesting people. The bustle and activity of town life are 

 quite absent, but the earnestness and quiet homeliness of a 

 simple, industrious, and hardy race will be very apparent. In 

 this way a holiday amongst the mountains, though it removes 

 one from the ever-changing stream of tourists, will give a better 

 idea of what Norway and Norwegians are, and impress one more 

 with the almost unique conditions of the country, than any stay 

 in the more popular and more frequently visited districts. A 

 noteworthy feature in passing over these mountains is the ex- 

 cellence of the roads, and the consequent ease with which ladies 

 can travel. 



Natural History Notes from Upper Coquetdale. By 

 William Thompson, Harbottle. 



BIRDS. 

 Merlin and Kestrel interbreeding. In the Spring of 1886, rather an 

 unusual, or as far as my knowledge goes, an unprecedented thing occurred 

 on Barra Crags. A male Merlin Hawk (Falco JEsalon) mated with a 

 female Kestrel (F. Tinnunculus) . The result was a progeny of four. The 

 keeper (Taylor residing at Angryhaugh) shot the Kestrel and found it 



