3i6 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



Formerly this bird bred on the " wastes " around Don- 

 caster and in the East Riding, but compelled to retreat 

 before the steady march of agriculture and the misplaced zeal 

 of the game-preserver it has long since ceased to do so, 

 and can now only be regarded as an extremely rare visitor 

 to the county. 



That it also bred on the moors of Cleveland is evidenced 

 by J. Hogg, who in his " Birds of N.W. Cleveland and S.E. 

 Durham " (Zool. 1845, p. 1053), remarked of this species : 

 " Gamekeepers on some of our moors hunt this bird with 

 pointers in the spring, for the purpose of finding its nest ; 

 having marked the spot, they afterwards shoot the old birds, 

 and destroy their eggs or brood." 



At first glance this appears doubtful, and more applicable 

 to the Hen Harrier, but its probability seems to be greater 

 when we remember that the late John Hancock stated that 

 he took a nest and four eggs of this species on the Wemmergill 

 Moors, which are in Yorkshire (" Birds of Northd. and Dm." 

 p. 17), and I am informed by Mr. W. Walton of Middleton- 

 in-Teesdale that his grandfather used regularly to shoot 

 Marsh Harriers on the moors on the Yorkshire side of the dale. 



The late Alfred Roberts of Scarborough stated (MS.), 

 that he had three eggs of the Marsh Harrier brought to him 

 many years ago that had been taken by a person named Elliot 

 on May Moss, a swampy place on the moors between Scar- 

 borough and Whitby ; the nest being composed of heather, 

 grass, and rushes. 



In 1808 the species was cited by Graves as inhabiting Cleve- 

 land ; R. Leyland in 1828 mentioned it in his list of Halifax 

 birds ; in 1844 Allis, in his Report, gave it as sometimes visiting 

 the moors in the West Riding ; and near Sheffield it has 

 been reported from time to time. 



In October 1849, one was killed at Wassand, near Hornsea, 

 by the keeper, in the presence of Sir Wm. Milner, Bart. ; 

 recorded by Dr. B. R. Morris in the Zoologist (1850, p. 2649). 



One was obtained on Waupley Moors, in east Cleveland, 

 in 1859. 



A fine female is said by Wm. Talbot, in his list of Wakefield 



