194 



UPPER NIDDERDALE AND ITS FAUNA. 



the mountain limestones occur. At the dale-head the mountain 

 pastures sweep down in broad grassy declivities or slopes from the 

 summit ridge to the river banks, and some portion of the watershed 

 is capped by undulating plateaux of heatherland much broken up 

 by peat-ravines. Down the mountain pastures trickle the innumer- 

 able rills which by their union form the head-waters of Nidd and 

 its tributaries. The river, which rapidly acquires force and volume 

 from the numerous tributary streams which feed it, runs a course due 

 east for about six miles before turning southward. About Angram it 

 is margined by numerous escarpments of shale of considerable height, 

 and fringed by a slight growth of wood and coppice. The outcrop 

 of mountain limestone above Lofthouse is the cause of beauty and 

 picturesqueness in the scenery of the dale and of its chief tributary, 

 the How Stean Beck, the lower part of whose course lies through a 

 deep and imposing gorge in the limestone, the remarkable scenery of 

 which can hardly be excelled for grandeur and interest. Two miles 

 above Lofthouse the river Nidd disappears entirely, precipitating 

 itself into the pot-holes called Manchester Hole and Goyden Pot, to 

 reappear in volume below Lofthouse after a subterranean course of 

 a couple of miles in extent. Not that the visible bed of the stream is 

 dry throughout, for the feeders from the mountain slopes are sufficient 

 to keep the stream running above ground as well as below. At its 

 reappearance the Nidd enters upon the more sober formation of the 

 millstone grit, and, leaving behind it the tinge of romance which 

 attends its disappearance in the permeable limestones, from hence- 

 forth pursues the even tenor of its way in the full light of day. 

 Below Lofthouse the dale becomes irregular in surface, and it is 

 moderately well wooded about and below Pateley Bridge, while at 

 Brimham rocks and Guyscliffe the skyline is diversified by crags of 

 the most extraordinary conformation. 



Concerning the geology of the district it is not our province to 

 speak ; and as to its botany, we must refer to the various floras and 

 other works which include Nidderdale in their scope. 



Nor in respect of zoology does this paper profess to embody more 

 than the original and unpublished observations made by ourselves and 

 a few others during the past few years. Had we taken cognizance of 

 the whole bibliography of the subject, the present paper might have 

 grown to the dimensions of a volume, and we will therefore here 

 content ourselves by merely referring to Mr. Joseph Lucas' ' Studies 

 in Nidderdale' as containing much information on the natural history 

 of the whole district, which, when added to our own, will make a 

 tolerably complete account of what is at present known on the 



