Hiirkcv : Petrology in Yorksliire. 75 



fifty years to come, but the love of Nature and the love of 

 Knowledge are among the things which Yorkshiremen will 

 not willingly allow to perish. Opening in this spirit the new 

 chapter in our corporate history, we may confidently hope that, 

 in the time to come, when a worthier President shall be called 

 upon to deliver a Centenary Address, he will find the Yorkshire 

 Naturalists' Union as flourishing as it is to-day, and carr3dng 

 out as faithfully the objects for which it was founded. 



FIELD NOTES. 



MAMMALS, 

 Early Fox Cubs in Yorkshire. — On January 30th, Mr, 

 F. Wilson Horsfall, Master of the Bilsdale H'ounds, found a 

 litter of foxes, which were then about ten days old. The earth 

 was in a hedge bottom on his Potts property. About the 

 middle of March is the usual date for the birth of fox cubs in 

 Yorkshire. — R. Fortune, Harrogate, February 15th, 1912. 



BIRDS. 



Shag- at liebden Bridge. — A shag was killed on the top 

 dam in Nutclough Wood, Hebden Bridge, on the 24th January. 

 Its facile diving made it a mark of attention. What it sub- 

 sisted on during its stay is as puzzling as its occurrence, so 

 far distant from its natural haunts, as there are now no fish 

 in this water. The specimen was brought to me for inspection 

 on the 26th. It was quite plump, and measured 29 inches 

 from beak to tail. This is the first recorded occurrence of the 

 species at Hebden Bridge. — Walter Greaves. 



Bird Notes from Whitby. — This district does not usually 

 produce the number of interesting birds observed on other 

 portions of the county seaboard, but the gales of January, 

 followed by the terribly severe weather experienced during the 

 early part of February, no doubt accounts for the recent 

 occurrence of several birds seldom noticed here. An adult 

 female example of the little gull — a rare visitant — was picked 

 up dead on the beach on January 22nd. On the 23rd a Fulmar 

 Petrel was found washed up on the coast. The same day a 

 Great Crested Grebe was found dead on the sands ; on Februar}^ 

 1 2th, one was shot about a mile up the river Esk, and another 

 observed fishing in the outer harbour. Large numbers of 

 Little Auks have also been seen dead on the shore ; many have 

 been captured, and others observed in the harbour. A female 

 Smew was shot on the river about a mile from the sea on 

 February 5th, which, so far as I am aware, is the first recorded 

 occurrence of this interesting bird at Whitby. During the 

 winter a fine immature Glaucous Gull frequented the harbour 

 for over two months, being last seen about the middle of 

 January. — Thos. Stephenson, Whitby, February 13th, igi2. 



1912 M:ir. I. 



