20 CLARKE : THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



place of the others which have moved further south." As a 

 resident throughout the year the Kestrel is by no means confined 

 to South Yorkshire, as Mr. Harting suggests, but is generally dis- 

 tributed over the county. Mr, Robert Lee of Thirsk and Mr. 

 James Brigham of Slingsby assure me that in those parts of the 

 North Riding, the Kestrel may be found at all seasons. Further 

 south it occurs commonly around Leeds in the winter. In 

 high and exposed districts, the Kestrel is compelled in hard 

 winters to seek more sheltered quarters, but in milder seasons 

 remains in its old haunts. The evidence given above only tends 

 to prove that the Kestrel is not confined in winter in its distri- 

 bution, and does not preclude the possibiUty of such an exchange 

 of birds taking place as Mr. Harting suggests. 



Mr. A. Clapham of Scarborough informs me that he has a 

 dwarf specimen of this species shot on Strensall Common, and 

 that about three years ago he saw a recently-killed male, in a 

 York bird-stuffer's shop, that was almost black. 



It is greatly to be lamented that such a useful bird should be 

 subject to the rule of wholesale extermination which is applied to 

 all the Hawks, and I once had a conversation with a gamekeeper 

 on this point, in which he quite admitted the harmless character of 

 the bird, but added " it frightens the young pheasants by its 

 hovering," — a most grievous offence certainly. 



FALCO CENCHEIS Cuvier. 

 Lesser Kestrel. 



A rare and accidental visitant. 



The addition of a new bird to the British avifauna is 

 always viewed by ornithologists with a certain amount of suspicion, 

 and perhaps rightly so. In this instance, however, there is the 

 presence of all that is necessary to place beyond the possibility 

 of a doubt the occurrence of this species in Yorkshire, the bird 



Trans.Y.N.U.. 1878. Series B 



