XX Vili YORKSHIRE—PHYSICAL ASPECT. 
Situate about midway on the eastern seaboard of the British 
Isles, and directly opposite the European continent, Yorkshire 
is sufficiently far south to include species whose distribution is of 
the southern type—such as the noctule, the nuthatch, and the 
nightingale, which find in it the northern limit of their range, 
while it is sufficiently far north to admit of the inclusion of such 
species as the curlew, dunlin, &c., which here meet with their 
southern breeding limits. 
As regards the influx of migratory birds, a glance at the map 
of Europe will at once show the advantageous position of the 
county. Not only does its coast lie opposite that of the continent, 
but Flamborough is on the same parallel of latitude as Heligoland, 
the island which is so renowned for the myriads of migrants which 
pass and repass it every spring and autumn. The observations 
made there for many years by Mr. Gitke show that all the birds 
passing over Heligoland do so in a direction due E. and W. 
Such a line of flight, if sustained, would land the stream of immi- 
grants upon the Yorkshire coast, and especially upon the promi- 
nent headland of Flamborough, which as a locality productive of 
rare birds has few equals. 
The configuration of the coast materially increases the advan- 
tage of the position, which is still more enhanced by the posses- 
sion of two such points as Flamborough and Spurn. From the 
Tees mouth the coast-line trends in a gracefully convex sweep in 
a south-easterly direction to the headland of Flamborough—a 
promontory which stands boldly out in the North Sea forty-three 
miles in advance of the Tees mouth, and full fifty miles E. of 
the mean longitude of the coast of Durham. South of Flam- 
borough the coast-line recedes, and after the concave sweep of 
Bridlington Bay, again advances, terminating in the long narrow 
spit of Spurn, which—projecting sixty-two miles E. of the Tees 
mouth—overlaps to a considerable extent the coast of Lincoln- 
shire. Those birds—mostly waders and marine species—which 
pursue a north and south course in their migrations, are in the 
habit of following coast-lines, even though the latter keep well 
out to sea. Such species making their way down the east coast 
would probably pass the shores of Northumberland and Durham, 
