28 CLARKE : THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE, 



occurrence of a Swallow-tailed Kite near Hawes in Wensleydale in 

 that county. The Editor has been favoured by a son of the 

 gentleman last named — Mr. William Fothergill of Darlington, with 

 a complete corroboration of this story in the shape of the original 

 note in the handv/riting of his father. This note states that " on the 

 6th of September 1805, during a tremendous thunder-storm a bird, 

 of which a correct description follows, was observed flying about in 

 Shaw Gill, near Simonstone, and alighting upon a tree was knocked 

 down by a stick thrown at it, which however did not prove fatal, 

 as I saw it alive and had an opportunity of carefully examining it 

 four days after it was taken." A very accurate description of the 



specimen follows, and the note proceeds thus — the 



latter portion having to all appearance been written subsequently: — 

 " The bird was kept to the 27th, and then made its escape, by the 

 door of the room being left open while showing [it] to some 

 company. At first it arose high in the air, but being violently 

 attacked by a party of Rooks, it alighted in the tree in which it was 

 first taken. When its keeper approached, it took a lofty flight 

 towards the south, as far as the eye could follow, and has not since 

 been heard of. — [Signed] W. Fothergill. Sepr. 30th. 1805." 

 The Editor has further been kindly shewn by his obliging corres- 

 pondent a letter addressed to his father the following year by his 

 nephew, the late Mr. Charles Fothergill of York, an ardent 

 NaturaUst, who says, " I have also proved, what I expected would 

 be the case, that the Falco taken at Hardraw Scarr was the 

 Swallow-tailed Falcon or Falco furcatus of Linnaeus." Unaccount- 

 able then as the fact may be, it rests on the evidence of perfectly 

 competent witnesses and there is accordingly no room for doubt 

 in this case." 



The second specimen is in the collection of Mr. A. Clapham 

 of Scarborough, who informs me that he purchased it from Mr- 

 Graham of York, to whom it had been sold by Mr, Jonathan Taylor, 

 a schoolmaster at Harum near Helmsley. Mr. Clapham made 

 careful enquiries before purchasing this bird and communicated 

 with Mr. Taylor, the following being a copy of that person's reply. 



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



