198 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



regions of north Africa, and the woods of Siberia and 

 Kamchatka, wintering as far east as China. 



It has nested at intervals in Yorkshire, and is of almost 

 yearly occurrence in one district or another, but its appear- 

 ances are so erratic and uncertain that the term " resident " 

 or " annual visitant " cannot accurately be applied. It 

 has been met with irregularly in the fir plantations of the 

 south, the first being noticed near Sheffield in 1834, an d at 

 Barnsley in 1831 ; at Storthes Hall, near Wakefield, there 

 were many in 1863 and in 1889 ; in the valley of the Hodder 

 a small flock was seen in 1878-9, and a few in Ribblesdale in 

 January 1888 ; near Huddersfield it has occurred as a visitant 

 in late autumn, and has been recorded in the neighbourhood 

 of Doncaster, Selby, and Ackworth since 1835. In Upper 

 Wharfedale it occurs in the fir woods in winter, sometimes 

 in large flocks ; a pair were observed at Grassington in the 

 summer of 1899 ; it bred near Fewston in 1902, and has 

 also nested at Birstwith ; in Nidderdale it is a fairly regular 

 visitant in winter to Pateley, near which place a pair nested 

 and brought off four young in 1876 ; at Knaresborough 

 they were numerous in 1838, and a large flock was observed 

 in 1846 ; it has also been occasionally noted near Ripon. 

 Turning to the central districts, several nests were found 

 at Bramham Park in 1840 ; in the vicinity of York, at Kelfield, 

 in 1855, a young one was obtained which had the appearance 

 of being bred there ; sixty or seventy examples were noted, 

 and a nest containing four eggs was found near Stockton-on- 

 the-Forest in 1872 (Zool. 1880, pp. 403, 515) ; in various 

 other localities of the North Riding it has occurred in autumn 

 and winter, being abundant in Wensleydale in 1867, when 

 thirty were killed at one shot at Thornton Rust. It is an 

 irregular visitant near Richmond, and is said to have bred 

 near Gilling, where a keeper saw young birds following their 

 parents. At Scarborough it has been met with on many 

 occasions ; ten were obtained in 1898, and on 7th April 

 1900, Mr. Walter Gyngell heard one singing at the top of 

 a Scotch fir at Seamer Carr. In the Whitby and Grinkle 

 woods it used to be very abundant a few years ago, as many 



