MARSH HARRIER. 37 



trapped by Mr. Young on the 15th of September, weighed 

 3 lbs. and 2 ozs. The other was procured soon after, but 

 unfortunately no note was made of the date. For this infor- 

 mation I am indebted to Mr. John Harrison of Wilstrop Hall and 

 Mr. Joseph Ripley of York. 



CIRCUS ^EUGINOSUS (L.) 

 Marsh Harrier. 



A rare casual visitor. 



Formerly this bird bred on the 'wastes' around Doncaster and 

 in the East Riding, but — compelled to retreat before the steady 

 march of agriculture and the misplaced zeal of the game- 

 preserver — it has long since ceased to do so, and can now only be 

 regarded as an extremely rare visitor to the county. 



Under the old name of 'Moor Buzzard' the following 

 mention is made of this species in Miller's History of Doncaster, 

 published in 1804. "This bird is very common in our morasses, 

 moors, &c., and is one of the most voracious of its tribe. It is a 

 well attested fact that nine, nearly full grown, moor game {Tetrix 

 and Rubra) were taken out of a nest one day and eight the next 

 morning." 



Mr. Arthur Strickland, who resided at Bridlington Quay, 

 informed Mr. Allis in 1844 that the total destruction of all the 

 large beds of whins in his neighbourhood had nearly banished this 

 bird, which occasionally bred there formerly; stating that he had 

 never found young birds from that locality without the yellow 

 caul. 



Mr. Alfred Roberts of Scarborough informs me that he had 

 three eggs of the Marsh Harrier brought to him many years ago 

 that had been taken by a person named Elliot on May Moss, a 

 swampy place on the moors between Scarborough and Whitby j 



