PHYSICAL FEATURES AND CLIMATE lxix 
waders ; and to the absence of cliffs may be attributable 
the lack of such birds as Guillemots, Razorbills, and some 
gulls as breeding-species. 
The arable area may be said to extend from sea-level 
up to about 800 or, rarely, 900 feet. The soil is Hght, lying 
on rock, gravel, or sand, and in Nithsdale and Annandale 
is mostly dry ; in Eskdale generally wet. Considerable 
tracts of a rich loamy character lie along the rivers, and on 
the more level lowland portions. This area is comparatively 
weU wooded, and the ' holms ' contiguous to the lower 
reaches of the main rivers form the most fertile districts in 
the county. Here the country is mainly fiat, and it is 
remarkable that the 200 feet contour in Nithsdale is not 
attained till Drumlanrig, some 18 miles from the sea. 
" The rich holm lands of recent alluvial formation extend 
into the recesses of the hills. At the head of these valley- 
tracks there are often deep ravines full of rapids and water- 
falls such as Crichope Linn, Wamphray Linn, Penton Linn, 
and many others. Although these rocky winding glens 
have been perhaps (at least for the most part) planted by 
man, yet they are practically natural woodlands incapable 
of agricultural exploitation."* 
The pastoral area or sheep-farms are chiefly on silurian 
rock or drift. The soil is mainly poor, unsuitable for tillage 
and partly irreclaimable. It comprises numerous corries 
and glens, some of them fringed with a stunted growth 
of birch and rowan, and extends from the Hmits of the 
arable area to an ill-defined upland and more rugged 
country. Here there are peat-haggs and mosses, steep crags, 
and scaurs of bare whinstone rock and mudstone, and 
generally wild mountainous country, seldom visited by 
anyone but the shepherd or the sportsman. The moor- 
lands are now desolate in the extreme. They consist 
of sphagnum peat-bogs, cotton-grass swamps, or grass 
and heather. According to Dr. Lewis's recent researches, 
they were once for the most part occupied by a 
* G. F. Scott-Elliot, in litt., April 2nd, 1909. 
