xxvi INTRODUCTION. 



hills — is under an elevation of one hundred feet, with the 

 exception of Dimlington Height, which is but one hundred 

 and fifty-nine ; and of all districts in the county is probably 

 the one which has undergone the most decided physical 

 transformation. There can be little doubt that the aboriginal 

 condition of the district, now rich and fertile corn-land, was 

 that of a vast fen or swamp — the haunt of the Crsme, the Wild 

 Goose, the Bittern, the " Sholarde," and the Ruff. The sheets 

 of water which formerly diversified the surface were made 

 use of for the establishment of decoys for the capture of Wild 

 Duck, and consequently we find that the greater number — 

 four out of seven — of the decoys known to have existed 

 in East Yorkshire were here, at Holme on the Wolds, 

 Meaux, Watton, and Scorborough. 



The impetus given to agriculture about the close of the 

 eighteenth century, and the rapid development of high 

 farming, proved fatal to much of the ornithological wealth 

 of Holderness. The decoys were destroyed by the Holder- 

 ness (1762) and the Beverley and Barmston (1800) drainage 

 schemes ; and many haunts were broken up by the general 

 revival of agriculture. 



Holderness, even now, is a rich ornithological district, 

 the Turtle-dove and the Quail being regular summer visitants, 

 and the Hawfinch breeds annually in some abundance. 

 Hornsea Mere — the largest natural sheet of water in York- 

 shire — was formerly resorted to in the nesting season by large 

 numbers of Terns,* as is shewn by an entry in the diary of 

 the Rev. Abraham de la Pryme, dated " Hornsey, Dec. 21st 

 1693," and which runs as follows : — " The marr is a mile and 

 a half in length, and in one place a mile in breadth .... 

 there are three hills (islands we call them) in the marr, two 

 of them, at the season of the year, are so full of tern eggs 

 and birds as can be imagined. A man must be very careful 

 if he tread not on them " (" Publications of Surtees Society "). 

 The Reed Warbler, the Pochard, and the Great Crested Grebe 

 breed regularly ; and it has produced some of the rarest 



* Query, Black-headed Gulls. See chapters on Common Tern and 

 Black-headed Gulls. 



