3404 The Zoologist — February, 1873. 



British Heronries. By J. E. Harting, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



Appendix. 



Under this head I observe a note from Mr. Bethel!, in the 

 'Zoologist' for December, in which he asserts that I am in error 

 in supposing that any heronries exist in the East Riding of York. 

 I am sorry to hear it, if true, but I will give Mr. Belhell my 

 authority for my statement to the contrary. I gave the locality of 

 Hutton Cranswick, near Beverley, on the authority of Yarrell 

 (Hist. Brit. Birds, 3rd ed., vol. ii. p. 542), and a reference to it in a 

 letter from Mr. W. Boulton, of Beverley, dated 13lh January, 1872. 

 In this letter (addressed to Mr. Cordeaux), Mr. Boulton adds, "At 

 Stork Hill, near Beverley, indeed within three miles out of the town, 

 living men recollect a heronry, hence the name of the place, which, 

 however, as ornithologists we must acknowledge to be a misnomer. 

 I know a man, however, who has eaten young herons bred in a 

 heronry at Scorbro', near Beverley, i. e. about four miles from the 

 town." It will be seen by a note from Mr. Boyes, in the ' Zoolo- 

 gist' for January (S. S. 3369), that this heronry gradually decreased 

 until about forty years ago, when the iew remaining birds forsook 

 the place, partly in consequence of the trees decaying. 



The locality of Newton, near Mallon, in the East Riding (mis- 

 printed " Walton" in my article in the ' Zoologist' for October last) 

 I gave on the authority of Mr. A. J. Cholmley, of Howsham Hall, 

 near York, who, writing to me on the 16th March, 1872, said, 

 " There is a heronry at Newton, near Malton, in the East Riding, 

 the property of Sir George Cholmley, consisting of about sixty 

 nests built on larch trees.* The plantation in which they are 

 consists of larch, spruce and a few Scotch firs, and sycamores. The 

 herons confine themselves almost entirely to the larch, while a small 

 colony of rooks has taken possession of the Scotch firs and syca- 

 mores." It seems fair to infer that my correspondent, from his 

 relationship to the owner of the property, should be better informed 

 than Mr. Bethell, and that the East Riding of York is therefore not 

 so destitute of heronries as the latter supposes. 



• Mr. Boyes, who visited this heronry in the spring of 1872, found there were 

 then not more than twenty or twenty-five nests, and Sir George's keeper, who has 

 lived there twenty-six years, informed him that there were never many more than 

 this.— J. E. H. 



