SUMMER BIRDS ABOUT BARNSLEY. 241 



slaughter, I know not; to all appearance it might have been continued "ad 

 infinitum;" but having now specimens sufficient for my purpose, I felt no incli- 

 nation to proceed with an experiment, cruel in itself, and useless as cruel. 



From the above fact it would appear that the males of this species, on 

 their migration to this country, are in the same forlorn condition, at least 

 *^^pro tempore" as the males of our own species, on their emigration to ^^our 

 antipodes." In either case, each female on her arrival is sought after with 

 the utmost eagerness, and caught at with the utmost avidity, being considered 

 — as indeed she ought in any case to be considered — if not ''the noblest," at 

 least the fairest "gift of God, etc" 



Brigliihampton. July 12th. , 1853. 



NOTES ON" THE DAYS WHEN THE SUMMER BIRDS 



WERE FIRST OBSERVED ABOUT BARXSLET, 



WITH INCIDENTAL NOTICES OF OUR RARER BIRDS AND 



THEIR SYSTEMATIC EXTERMINATION. 



BY MR. T. LISTER. 



The present extract from my Note Book is restricted to those days when 

 a ncAvly-arrived visitant or a rare bird was noticed. There will be by no 

 means a full list of what with us are deemed the rarest, but only such as 

 come within direct or incidental observations, made more or less every day, 

 throughout the first weeks of the present spring. The birds found in this 

 locality will generally occur throughout the south-west part of Yorkshire, known 

 geologically as the "Yorkshire Coal Formation," extending in a series of well- 

 wooded undulations, from the Magnesian Limestone range, at near three 

 hundred feet elevation, to the great back-bone range of Millstone Grit, at a 

 height of from seventeen hundred to eighteen hundred feet above the level 

 of the sea. Barnsley is near the centre, at a height of three hundred and 

 ninety feet; while the heights immediately overlooking it are five hundred and 

 fifty feet in elevation; — there being a regular increase of height in a western 

 direction. 



In birds then it may be expected to typify the district, being equally 

 removed from the level regions beyond the Limestone range, where birds of 

 the marsh and sea mingle largely, and the sub-alpine regions, where the 

 moorlands predominate. With great variety of situation, fruitful fields, valley 

 streams, sedgy pools, patches of gorse and heath, fine parks and abounding 

 woodlands, we have a good variety of birds; and should have many more and 

 more thickly distributed, if half as much pains were taken in preserving, (after 

 the manner of Waterton,) as in destroying rare birds. This question is worthy 

 of being taken up by scientific men ; since all true naturalists Avill admit that 

 there is more satisfaction in studying living objects than dead representations; 



VOL. III. 2 I 



