84 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



in Askham Bogs, near York. (Morris's Naturalist, 1854,. 

 iv., p. 167.) 



Thomas Allis, in his Report on Yorkshire Birds, 1844,. 

 wrote as follows : 



Sylvia trochilus. Willow Warbler Abundant. J. Heppenstall 

 remarks that the eggs of this bird are liable to vary, some specimens- 

 being very beautifully marked. 



The arrival of this little songster may be expected from 

 the first to the second week in April ; in some districts of the 

 south and central portions it is noticed earlier than in the 

 north, though, generally speaking, it is not observed until the 

 time first stated ; exceptionally early records are 2gth March 

 1880, at Hovingham ; the nth of the same month 1894, 

 at Middlesbrough ; 2nd April 1886, at Masham, and the same 

 date in 1887 at Harrogate ; while what may be termed an 

 example wintering in the county is mentioned from Grinkle, 

 where one was shot in January 1878. As it is one of the first 

 to arrive so it is amongst the latest in leaving us, and departs 

 in late August or September, often lingering into October, 

 those observed at the latter period being in all probability 

 migrants from more northerly latitudes. 



It is the most numerous and generally distributed of all 

 our summer warblers ; its cheery song is heard throughout 

 the whole summer, " from early morn to dewy eve," and 

 it is ever on the move searching for food, the attitudes it 

 assumes when stretching upward to pick off an aphis insect 

 or larva being most graceful, and all the while it is incessantly 

 singing. In the dales it often ascends to the borders of the 

 moors ; in Nidderdale to a height of 1200 feet ; in Wharf edale 

 and Wensleydale to 1000 feet, and in Teesdale to 1500 feet 

 elevation, while it has been found breeding on the moors 

 in the Sheffield neighbourhood. 



On its migratory passage southward it has frequently 

 been reported from the light stations on the coast and, 

 according to the information supplied to the British Association 

 Migration Committee, the greatest numbers are observed in 

 August and September ; it was unusually abundant at 

 Spurn during the last week in August 1881, in the autumn 



