89 
and the abundant pink of the bird’s-eye primrose will 
suggest to the botanist the still unspoiled floral richness of 
the region : and not less suggestive to the ornithologist will 
be the pensive heron startled by the lone rock-girded pool, 
or pursued by the hawk; the sky-blue flash of the kingfisher, 
and the silvery splash of the “dipper.” Amid such scenes 
the visitor has still a profound sense of the primeval brood- 
ing of Nature, majestic and eternal. 
The fish-house erected by the Association stands in a 
little glen formed by Horton beck or brook, a tributary of 
the Kibble, which, like the Aire at Malham and many other 
water-courses of the district, flows from a cave at the foot 
of a limestone precipice known as Douk-Ghyll Scar. The 
house is thus in a sheltered situation, protected from the 
strong and cold winds which blow across the hills or sweep 
along the dales. It stands on the edge of the brook, which 
affords a ready drainage, and is a strong wooden structure 
on a foundation of solid rock. The water-supply is obtained 
from a spring, on the side of Penyghent, which feeds a 
cistern, the overflow from which formerly found its way to 
the brook and is now carried through the tanks in the fish- 
house. A good and permanent supply of unpolluted water 
is thus obtained, for the spring has never been known, 
within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, to run dry. 
The vast fells and moorlands which stretch around may be 
compared to stupendous sponges retaining a practically in- 
exhaustible store of moisture which supplies the sub- 
terranean reservoirs, whence the springs are fed and what 
may be spoken of as full-grown and partly subterranean 
brooks proceed. The building of the house was entrusted 
to the village joiner, and it will, therefore, be unnecessary 
for me to inform anyone who is familiar with the still primi- 
tive qualities of the district, that it was done in a thoroughly 
substantial manner, Before the house was erected the 
