XX DARTMOOR. 



raay have had its eyrie. Dartmoor is the great vratershed of the 

 county. Three of its principal rivers, the Taw, the Teign, and the 

 Dart, — the last two flowing south into the English Channel, and the 

 first northwards and uniting with the Torridge at Appledore, — rise 

 in close proximity near Cranmere Pool. Besides these, the Oke- 

 ment, a tributary of the Torridge, to the north, and the Avon, 

 Errae, Yealm, Plym, and Tavy, all flowing south, with many 

 another minor stream, owe their source to the heavy rains which 

 fall on the elevated moor. It contains the highest land in the 

 county— High Wilhayes, 2039 feet, and Yes Tor near it, 2027 feet ; 

 wliile there are several other Tors, which rise from 1700 to 2000 

 feet, such as Great Mis Tor, 1760 feet. Fur Tor, 1877 feet, &c. 



In the summer-time there is no more delightful district; the 

 elastic air, the hills all purple with heather, the extensive views to 

 be had from the rocky tors of " Devonians garden-fields ■'"' stretched 

 a fair panorama beneath, the prehistoric barrows, hut circles, 

 ancient stones, and numerous streams here and there crossed by 

 bridges formed of great slabs of granite resting upon boulders, — all 

 lend a romantic charm, so that it is no wonder that Chagford on 

 the east, an old Venville town, which may be regarded as the 

 capital of the Forest, is becoming every year a more frequented 

 resort, and that many a jaded invalid finds health and strength in 

 breathing " the freshness of the moorland gale.^' On the principle 

 oi" omne ignotum pro magnifico " the early ornithologists of the 

 county, with the exception of Col. Montagu, who could never be 

 betrayed into such a mistake, were wont to regard the moor as 

 the nesting-place of Goshawks, Eagles, Grey Plovers, and of most 

 of the Waders to be found on our shores, and Great Bustards were 

 supposed to have their home within its unexplored fastnesses. 

 But Carrington, the poet of the moor, had a truer perception of 

 the almost entire absence of life in its central wastes, when he 



wrote — 



"... .nothing that has life 

 Is visible; no solitary flock 

 At will wide ranging throug-h the silent moor 

 Breaks the deep felt monotony; and all 

 Is motionless, save where the giant shades 

 Flung by the passing cloud glide slowly o'er 

 The grey and gloomy wild." 



The ornithologist who is well acquainted with the moor will 



