YORKSHIRE—VERTEBRATE FAUNA. XXXiX 
way is but an exceptional one, not affecting the faunistic location 
of the species. 
In addition to the species at the present time regularly breed- 
ing in the county, others must be mentioned as having formerly 
nested annually, but which are now entirely banished in con- 
sequence of persecution, or of the great changes wrought in their 
former haunts ; and instead of being claimable as members of the 
two classes which furnish the breeding species, they can now 
only be ranked as Casual or as Accidental Visitants, of more 
or less rare occurrence. 
Such species include the Kite, which there can be no doubt 
was once very abundant, but of whose breeding the information 
is so meagre that only two actual instances can be cited. The 
three Harriers, though local, were once fairly abundant, the 
Hen-Harrier, perhaps, being the least so, though it is now the 
most frequent as a casual visitant. The Marsh-Harrier, on the 
contrary, is now one of the rarest, whilst Montagu’s Harrier was 
the most widely distributed and the last to linger on the Yorkshire 
heaths. The Hobby, earlier in the present century, was regarded 
as far from uncommon in South Yorkshire, but it is now seldom 
seen, and only three instances of its breeding in the county can 
be cited. Although the Bittern was formerly abundant, and 
doubtless bred in the county, there is no positive record in 
existence of a nest or eggs having been found. Regarding the 
Bustard, which formerly had its most northern residence in Britain 
on the wolds of Eastern Yorkshire, all the information obtainable 
has been amassed. In this case, a justifiable departure from the 
general plan of the work has been made, in order to place on 
record—ere it is lost for ever—all the information which it is 
possible to obtain of its former existence. The Shag, though 
now quite unknown even as a casual breeder, once nested in 
some abundance on the cliffs at Flamborough. It is satisfactory 
to have information so interesting on the high authority of Mr. 
Arthur Strickland. The former breeding of such birds as the 
Grey-lag Goose, Avocet, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, and Black 
Tern, is mentioned under the head of the respective species 
in the catalogue. . 
