208 Field Notes. 
Decrease in Whinchats.—Mr. Boyes deplores the de- 
crease in the numbers of Whinchats frequenting his district.* 
This decrease appears to have been pretty general. In this 
district they have been annually getting scarcer, and during 
the last year or two they have become almost scarce birds. 
Localities where one could always be certain of coming across. 
them in fair numbers, have not had a single pair, and I should 
be well within the mark if I said that for every twelve pairs 
we used to have, there is now only one.—R. Fortune, Harro- 
gate. 
The Decrease in Landrails.—There can be no doubt that 
the Landrail is very much rarer than formerly, and, to my 
mind, as I pointed out very many years ago, the chief cause 
is the reaping machine. This supposition has received abun- 
dant confirmation during the last year or two, when I have 
seen various nests left bare by the mowing machine, and, in 
one or two cases, young birds cut to pieces. At the beginning 
of July, two nests (one containing ten eggs) were laid bare in 
one field, and two years ago in a little field belonging to the 
Corporation of Harrogate, at their Sewage Works at Ribston, 
three nests were laid bare. One had fortunately a tuft of 
grass left about it, and the sitting bird was very tame. I 
went over to photograph her, but she was absent, and did 
not again turn up. The reason transpired later in the day, 
when we found her dead body in one of the tanks. She had 
evidently got into the tank in some way, and being unable 
to rise again, was drowned. 
Against this general decrease, I was delighted to hear the 
bird again in Sheepshank’s fields, situated practically in the 
centre of our town, and adjoining the Railway Station. These 
fields used to provide harbour for a pair of Corncrakes every 
year since I can remember until about ten years ago, when they 
ceased to come.—R. FORTUNE, Harrogate. 
Bird Notes from the Scarborough District.—I regret 
to say that the pole-trap is still in use in this district. A friend 
found one (the latter part of April) wired down to a post on the 
moors, about three or four miles beyond ‘ Bloody Beck’ (in 
Harwood Dale district). Needless to say he broke the wire, 
and, as he was unable to break the trap, he brought it back 
to Scarborough with him. 
The Wild Birds’ Protection Act is a ‘farce’ in this dis- 
trict. Gangs of lads may be seen any day, especially on Satur- 
days and Sundays, many of them ‘armed’ with catapults , 
climbing the trees after nests, and doing a great deal of damage 
in Raincliffe Wood. 
* In a recent number of ‘ The Field.’ 
Naturalist, 
