BIRDS. 65 



Fam. GRUIDJE. 



270. Grus communis Bechst. Common Crane. 



Accidental visitant from Northern Europe, of extremely rare 

 occurrence. 



York, one shot in 1797 (Fothergill, Orn. Brit., 1799, p. 7). 



271. Grus virgo (Z). Demoiselle Crane. 



Order 4. LIMICOLJE. 



Fam. OTIDJE. 



272. Otis tarda Z. Great Bustard. 



Accidental visitant from Continental Europe, of ex- 

 tremely rare occurrence ; formerly resident in great 

 numbers on the Wolds of Eastern Yorkshire, when in 

 their virgin state as undulating barren sheepwalks. 



The precise date of extinction is uncertain, but there is 

 reason to believe that the last bird was killed at Reighton 

 near Hunmanby, about the year 1830. 



It is much to be regretted that the whole of the records 

 of the existence in Yorkshire of so fine and conspicuous 

 a bird should date subsequently to its extinction, and it 

 is somewhat remarkable that no allusion to its presence in 

 the county should be made by Pennant or other contem- 

 porary writers ; probably this may be explained by the 

 very abundance of the species. Even the records that exist 

 are derived from memory, or based upon hearsay state- 

 ments. 



The materials available for treating of the past history 

 of Yorkshire Bustards consist of Mr. Arthur Strickland's 

 account given in Allis's report on Yorkshire Birds, in 1844 ; 

 notes by Mr. Henry Woodali, of North Dalton, and Mr. E. 

 H. Hebden, of Scarborough, contributed to Morris' British 

 Birds, in 1854; articles in the Zoologist for 1870 (pp. 

 2063, 2102, 2103); a letter from Sir Charles Anderson, of 

 Lea, to Mr. John Cordeaux, dated Dec. 14, 1874 ; and 

 letters to myself from Mr. Thos. Boynton, of Ulrome, Sir 

 F 



