The smaller villages of the Vale are without any particular interest in themselves, apart from the wide and expansive landscapes that stretch away in all directions to the enclosing hills that in distant times formed the boundaries of the lake.

Great Habton has a small chapel of ease of very recent erection.

Ryton is chiefly composed of two or three farms and a dilapidated little red brick building that scarcely deserves the name of church.  The lane to this hamlet from Great Habton is remarkable for the series of about a dozen gates across the roadway.

Brawby and Butterwick have no particular features that impress themselves on the mind, and Great Barugh, though more picturesque than either of these, is chiefly interesting on account of its past.

Normanby lies on the dead level of the plain, and is watered by the Seven, that flows between high embankments throughout most of its course after leaving the high ground at Sinnington.

Salton lies a little to the west and is interesting on account of its beautiful little Norman church.  The cottages are situated on a patch of green, and the whole place has a cheerful and tidy appearance.

At Kirby Misperton there is a very green pond by the church, and the remains of the stocks may still be seen by the pretty rose-covered cottage that contains the post-office.  Many of the cottages were rebuilt between 1857 and 1877, the dates being conspicuous on their big gables.

CHAPTER XIV

Concerning the Zoology of the Forest and Vale

The great expanses of wild moorland, the deep, heavily wooded valleys, and the rich and well-watered level country included in the scope of this book would lead one to expect much of the zoology of the Pickering district, and one is not disappointed.  That the wild life is ample and interesting will be seen from the following notes on the rarer varieties which Mr Oxley Grabham of the York Museum has kindly put together.

On THE MOORS the Curlew, the Golden Plover, and the Merlin nest regularly together with other more common species.

In THE WOODS the Woodcock, Pied Flycatcher, and Wood Wren, together with the Green and the Great Spotted Woodpeckers, breed by no means uncommonly.

In THE MARSHY AND LOW-LYING LANDS the Snipe and the Redshank find congenial breeding quarters.

Many rarities have been obtained in the district such as the Kite, the Great Plover, the Smew, and the Golden Eagle, and numerous varieties of wildfowl during the winter months.  I have seen large flocks of Crossbills and Bramblings hunting for food in the severe weather, and occasionally a small flock of Waxwings appears in the district.

There is a well-protected Heronry in the neighbourhood, and these fine handsome birds may frequently be seen in the vicinity of the Costa, a stream famous for the size and quality of its Trout and Grayling.