246 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



The departure in spring usually takes place from March 

 to April ; on nth April 1870, a flock was seen to leave the 

 coast and take a course direct for the Naze ; odd birds some- 

 times remain until late in May, and on the iyth of that month 

 in 1902 I saw one on the Tees Marshes ; at Spurn they have 

 occasionally been observed in May and June, and near 

 Pontefract a small flock was seen on 22nd May 1870. With 

 reference to the return passage the Migration Reports contain 

 much information ; at Flamborough small bodies have been 

 noticed hanging about the Headland, waiting for favourable 

 winds before taking their departure ; great numbers left 

 on 30-3ist March 1889, but on the 5th April many put back 

 on account of stormy weather (M. Bailey, Nat. 1889, p. 130). 

 In this connection it is interesting to learn that important 

 testimony, bearing on a similar occurrence which confirms 

 Mr. Bailey's statement, is found in the Annual Register, 

 1799, where under date of April 4th is the following : 



" Some hundreds of .... Royston Crows, Lapwings, 

 etc., were cast on shore on the Holderness coast." 



Yorkshire can lay claim to the Hooded Crow as a nesting 

 species, irregular, perhaps, though in this respect the Cliffs 

 of Flamborough have been more favoured than other 

 localities. A pair bred there in 1858, 1871, 1876, and so 

 recently as 1887, when a brood was reared near the lighthouse 

 (Zool. 1858, p. 6142, and M. Bailey MS.) ; odd birds have 

 been seen in other years in the nesting season, both at Flam- 

 borough and in South Holderness, and a flock of sixteen 

 ' pensioners " remained at the former place all the summer 

 of 1891 (Bailey, Nat. 1891, p. 351). Near Scarborough a 

 female paired with a Carrion Crow at Hackness, where they 

 brought off young in a large tree ; the male bird was shot, 

 and next year the Hoodie found another black mate, which, 

 with the young brood, was again killed, and again the Hoodie, 

 by the exercise of remarkable cunning, escaped ; a third time 

 she returned with a fresh partner, and on this occasion she 

 shared the fate which had befallen her former companions ; 

 the young varied in plumage, some resembling the male bird, 

 whilst others had the characteristics of the Hooded Crow. 



