644 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



it is never altogether absent at any season of the year> 

 a few, probably non-breeding birds, remaining during the 

 summer months ; then, in the middle or latter part of July, 

 small parties of youngsters may be observed frequenting the 

 borders of the estuaries ; the earliest date of this arrival, of 

 which I have note, is I3th July 1900. As soon as the moors 

 are disturbed by Grouse shooting operations great additions 

 of both adults and young are made to the ranks of the birds 

 already on the coast ; these arrivals, together with foreigners 

 from more northerly latitudes, continue throughout August, 

 in which month they are frequently heard at night passing 

 overhead and coming from eastward. The influx of foreign 

 immigrants is kept up during September and October and 

 as late as mid-November, whilst the information supplied to 

 the British Association Migration Committee testifies to the 

 extent and continuity of this movement ; a perusal of the 

 Reports issued shows also the frequency with which this 

 bird is known to strike the lanterns of our sea-marks, 

 both on the autumnal passage and also on the return journey 

 in the spring. 



As a breeding species the Curlew occurs more or less 

 abundantly on most of the moorlands and fells of the West 

 and North Ridings, from the southern portions of the county, 

 where it is least numerous, northward to Sedbergh and Tees- 

 dale, including also Cleveland and the Whitby and Scarborough 

 districts. Although the situation chosen for the nest is 

 generally on the highest parts of the moors, where it has been 

 found to 2,150 feet elevation, yet in some cases the lower slopes 

 of the hills are selected, and this is particularly noticeable 

 near Sedbergh. In the neighbourhood of Harrogate it is 

 commonly met with on the low moors to the westward, and 

 in a few instances the nest has been found in grass fields 

 within half a mile of the borough boundaries ; several pairs 

 of birds have bred in this locality during the past few years. 

 The Curlew has also bred on Thorne Waste in the south-east, 

 where Mr. W. Eagle Clarke discovered eggs in 1881, and 

 noted birds there in May and June of the following year. 

 The only East Riding locality where its nest is reported 



