/o Yorkshire Naturalists' Union : Annual Report, 1909. 



in Ilkley on July i8th, and a few that were seen in the neighbour- 

 hood of Harrogate. 



Red Grouse and Pheasants have done fairly well in 1909, 

 but Partridges have had a very poor season. 



By the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union excursion to Newton, 

 more information was obtained respecting the little-known ver- 

 tebrate fauna of the Bowland district (see " Naturahst," 1909, 

 pp. 301-2). It is to be hoped that members will not neglect 

 to report anything of interest in the Yorkshire drainage of the 

 Ribble. The distribution of the different species of birds there is 

 peculiar. 



Mr. R. Fortune writes : — In the Harrogate district the 

 migrants arrived at the normal time. Swifts were first seen on 

 the 6th May, a date upon which they generally return. Landrails 

 are keeping up their numbers, although, of course, they are much 

 less common than they were twenty years ago. House Martins 

 continue to show a slight increase. One feature of the season has 

 been the exceptionally late nesting of a great number of birds, 

 nests with young of several species being seen well into September. 

 The first winter migrant noted was the Hooded Crow, on October 

 29th. Redwings were seen in numbers in the district on Novem- 

 ber 3rd, though they had been heard passing over at night much 

 earlier than this. Fieldfares first appeared on November 5th. 

 A flock of at least fifty Wild Geese passed over Farnham village 

 ■on October 27th, and on the same day quite a lot of Herring-Gulls 

 were flying over the same district. 



Mr. Corbett reports two interesting occurrences from the 

 Doncaster district. The first an adult male Scoter, which had 

 injured itself against the telegraph wires, and was picked up near 

 the racecourse early in September. The second, a specimen of 

 the Glossy Ibis, which had been shot on Misson Marsh, Notts, 

 was purchased at a game dealer's shop in Doncaster at the end of 

 ■October. A Hoopoe was seen on September 23rd at Elsecar, near 

 Barnsley. 



East Riding. — Mr. E. W. Wade writes : — An exceptionally 

 hard winter was followed by a dry, but cold and backward spring, 

 the third in succession ; and a wet and cold summer, with the excep- 

 tion of a brief spell of warm weather in August. The effect upon 

 bird life, if not exactly what one had expected, affords interesting 

 results, and food for thought, when contrasted with a normal 

 season. 



I will deal first with early breeders and resident or partially 

 migrant species. 



In this part of the county a great increase in the numbers of 

 field voles had a corresponding effect upon the fertility of owls, 

 and many large clutches of eggs were observed, e.g. — 



On 29th March, I found the Long-eared Owl with five eggs, 

 just on the point of hatching. The birds must have commenced 



Naturalist, 



