I98 UPPER NIDDERDALE AND ITS FAUNA. 



Among the Summer Visitants may be mentioned the local Black- 

 cap ; the Wood Wren, becoming common; the pretty and erratically 

 distributed Pied Flycatcher ; that most local of Yorkshire birds, the 

 Wryneck, which there is reason to think is, perhaps, an annual 

 visitor; the Dunlin, which breeds annually on some of the moorlands ; 

 while the Ring Ouzel, the Wheatear, and the Sandpiper are typical 



The Winter and the Casual and Periodic Visitants do not demand 

 special notice, and they are treated of sufficiently in the subjoined 

 annotated list ; but, nevertheless, the occurrence of the Skua (Sterco- 

 rarws caiarrhactes) is somewhat remarkable. 



Of the former bird-life of the Upper Nidd but little can be gleaned, 

 and nothing concerning it appears to have been placed on record. 

 It is, however, within the memory of natives now living when the 

 Raven and the Buzzard were to be classed among the indigenous 

 species ; and when the Starling, now to be voted a nuisance by the 

 ornithologist, since it ousts better things, was a very uncommon bird 

 indeed. 



The heights to which some of the species are stated to ascend 

 apply in all cases, except in those of the Golden Plover and the 

 Grouse, to observations taken in the valley by the river-side, and above 

 and about Angram, where the river runs through a particularly wild 

 country, destitute of all cover save of the most stunted description, 

 and have been determined by the aneroid. It would be interesting 

 to ascertain to what height in the valley other species ascend, and we 

 hope to devote further attention to this phase in the ornithology of 

 Upper Nidderdale. 



Missel Thrush. Turdus viscivorus. Resident, and common 



throughout the dale below Lofthouse. 

 Song Thrush. Turdus musicus. Common, but not so numerous 



as it was a few years ago. 

 Redwing. Turdus iliacus. A common winter visitant ; often 



confounded with the Fieldfare by the natives. 

 Fieldfare. Turdus pilaris. A common winter visitant. Local 



names : ' chocker,' ' felfer.' 

 Blackbird. Turdus merula. Common resident up to Whernside. 

 King Ouzel. Turdus torquatus. A common summer visitant to 



the dale above Brimham, nesting on the moorlands and the 



margins of the Nidd above • Goydon Pot.' 

 Dipper. Cinclus aquaticus. A fairly common resident ; observed 



to be more numerous below Pateley. 

 Wheatear. Saxicola oenanthe. A summer visitor, common, and 



generally distributed up to, and perhaps above, 1,200 feet. 



Locally known as the ' Stonechat.' 



Naturalist, 



