KESTREL. 371 



observed to be a resident in the neighbourhood of Barnsley 

 throughout the year. This district may possibly be the 

 northern Hmit of its winter haunts ; and if this is so, in all 

 probability the Kestrels seen at Barnsley in the winter are 

 not the same birds which spent the summer there, but are 

 new comers from the north, taking the place of the others 

 which have moved further south." As a resident throughout 

 the year the Kestrel is by no means confined to south York- 

 shire, as Mr. Harting suggests, but is generally distributed 

 over the county. Mr. Robert Lee of Thirsk and Mr. James 

 Brigham of Slingsby stated (MS.), that in those parts of the 

 North Riding, the Kestrel may be found at all seasons. Further 

 south it occurs commonly around Leeds in the winter. In 

 high and exposed districts, the Kestrel is compelled in hard 

 winters to seek more sheltered quarters, but in milder seasons 

 remains in its old haunts. The evidence given above only 

 tends to prove that the Kestrel is not confined in winter 

 in its distribution, and does not preclude the possibility of 

 such an exchange of birds taking place as Mr. Harting suggests. 

 Indeed, the observations communicated to the British Associa- 

 tion Migration Committee indicate that it receives a consider- 

 able accession to its numbers in autumn, chiefly during 

 September and October. I have, almost yearly, noticed 

 individuals flying in from the east or north-east, and have 

 occasionally seen them crossing when at sea off the Cleveland 

 coast. In some seasons they are very abundant in the 

 neighbourhood of the Tees and Humber estuaries. 



Mr. A. Clapham of Scarborough reported that he had a 

 dwarf specimen of this species obtained on Strensall Common, 

 and that about 1877 he saw a recently-killed male, in a York 

 bird-stuffer's shop, that was almost black. 



It is greatly to be lamented that such a useful bird should 

 be subject to the rule of wholesale extermination which is 

 applied to all the Hawks ; a gamekeeper, when questioned on 

 this point, quite admitted the harmless character of the bird, 

 but added " it frightens the young Pheasants by its hovering " 

 — a most grievous offence certainly. 



Mr. W. Storey of Fewston relates an incident of one of 



