183 
THE 
PROTECTION OF WILD LIFE IN YORKSHIRE. 
R. FORTUNE, F.Z.S. 
(Continued from page 154). 
From most accounts the Guillemots at Speeton and Bempton 
remain stationary in numbers, though some of the climbers, 
and, I think, Mr. Hewitt, aver that they have decreased. I 
hope the latter view is not correct. The curtailed egging 
season allows the birds to get their young away from the cliffs 
before shooting commences, and as they cannot now be ruth- 
lessly slaughtered on the breeding ledges, as in former times, 
one would naturally expect their number to increase. A visit 
paid to the cliffs after a few years absence convinced me that 
Razorbills had gained much ground and were more abundant 
than they used to be. Their habit of laying their eggs in a 
crevice of the rocks, making it more difficult for the climbers 
to obtain them, may be somewhat of a protection. It will, of 
course, be understood that there are portions of the cliffs, 
which owing to their dangerous nature are never climbed for 
eggs, and in these parts both Guillemots and Razorbil!s bring 
forth their young undisturbed. 
One or two pairs of Oystercatchers nest almost every year 
at Spurn, the only nesting place of the species in Yorkshire. 
The ground is a typical one, but they never seem to make good 
tneir hold there, and remain stationary at one or the most 
two pairs. Unfortunately Carrion Crows frequent the prom- 
ontory in some numbers during the whole of the year, and 
their depredations may be the cause of the Oystercatchers 
never increasing. The same cannot apply to the Shell Ducks, 
as their eggs are deposited in a burrow, in the sand _ hills 
generally, where the Crows cannot very well get at them. It 
is puzzling why they do not increase. On the west coast, 
especially in Lancashire and Cumberland, they have of late 
increased enormously. It would be interesting to know why 
they prefer the west to the east, for even on the Northumber- 
land coast where there are miles of sand-dunes, typical resorts 
for this Duck, they are found only in small numbers. I 
believe they are increasing on one portion of the East Coast, 
viz., in Norfolk. 
I should like to say just a few words about some of 
our much persecuted birds, in most cases needlessly so. Mr. 
St. Quintin effectively proved that the Sparrow Hawk is not 
nearly so bad as the game-keeper paints him, by having several 
nests upon his estate watched most carefully after the young 
were hatched, in order to ascertain beyond doubt, what pro- 
1916 June 1. 
