INTRODUCTION. xxiii 



THE CENTRAL PLAIN, including under this name not only 

 the entire vale of York, but also the lowlands of Cleveland 

 and the Tees valley, is a broad fertile tract of agricultural 

 land, for the most part below 300 feet in elevation, traversed 

 by the middle and lower portions of most of the Yorkshire 

 rivers, and stretching from the banks of the Tees to the 

 borders of Nottinghamshire. Its light and sandy soils support 

 ordinary lowland and woodland types of vegetation, the 

 fauna partaking of the same character. 



In former times the famous forest of Galtres stretched 

 for many miles in extent from beneath the very walls of York. 

 Parts of the district still remain to some extent in their pristine 

 condition ; and such places as Pilmoor, and Strensall and 

 Riccall Commons the breeding places of the Redshank, 

 Teal, Snipe, Black-headed Gull, etc., and some of them 

 formerly of the Ruff and other birds with some boggy carrs 

 and wet heaths of the North and East Ridings, and Askham 

 Bog, still display their primitive characteristics. At Hornby 

 Castle, near Catterick, is to be found one of the two decoys 

 now existing in the county. There is no lack of woodland, 

 especially towards the south, where at Edlington Wood one 

 of the last Yorkshire nests of the Kite was taken, while that 

 of the Hobby has been found at Rossington and in the woods 

 at Cawood, and in the latter, which were the largest in the 

 county, the Raven and Buzzard reared their young till within 

 comparatively recent times. 



In the extreme south the flat marsh-lands which lie between 

 the present and the old channels of the river Don, including 

 the carrs near Doncaster, and the famed levels of Hatfield 

 Chase and Thorne Waste, once ornithologically rich, even now 

 present an avifauna of considerable interest. Formerly the 

 three Harriers, the Black-tailed Godwit, and the Ruff were 

 among the species breeding annually, and an island at the 

 mouth of the Trent afforded the last British nest and eggs 

 of the Avocet. On Thorne Waste was also the site of a small 

 decoy fairly productive of Mallard, Wigeon, and Teal, especi- 

 ally the latter. Until quite recently Thorne Waste, which 

 is about 6,000 acres in extent, was the breeding haunt oi the 



