48 CLARKE : THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



pool Lighthouse a fisherman early one morning in October saw 

 eleven or more sitting together. In a letter lately received from 

 Heligoland, Mr. Gatke says : — ' The Short-eared Owls pick oif the 

 poor birds when they are dazzled by the glare of the lighthouse, 

 but not those fluttering against the glass ; but thrushes on the 

 wing — constantly one hears their dying cries when clutched by 

 the nude talons of an owl that had just flitted like a phantom, 

 noiselessly past the light.' " 



In the autumn of 1879 these birds arrived at Spurn at 

 intervals during the last week in October, being most numerous 

 on the morning of the 30th and all had departed by the next day. 

 During the January of 1880, when many migratory species were 

 most erratic in their movements, a fresh immigration occurred at 

 Spurn on the 30th. 



As a resident, this species is either overlooked, or rare. 

 From the extensive moors of North-west Yorkshire, which offer 

 every attraction as breeding haunts, it is not reported to have 

 nested, but I have little doubt that it has and does frequent them, 

 Mr. Thomas Bunker of Goole tells me that he is quite confident 

 that a pair bred on the moors near that town in 1879, f*^^ they 

 were observed there during the summer, and some men employed 

 in draining told him that on one occasion they must have been in 

 close proximity to the nest, for the old birds swooped at them. 

 Other localities in which it is said to have bred in the West 

 Riding, are on the Otley Moors and Thorne Wasie. 



In the North Riding it is mentioned in Mr. A. G. More's 

 valuable paper on the distribution of birds during the breeding 

 season, (Ibis, 1865) as frequenting the moors near Scarborough, 

 on the authority of Mr. A. S. Bell, and I am indebted to Mr. 

 More for a copy of Mr. Bell's letter to him dated November 

 i8th, 1862, in which he says: — "Another nest taken this year 

 in the heath on the moors near Scarborough. The eggs were 

 laid in a hole scratched in the ground, four in number. In the 

 former case the eggs were in a hole in a bank side immediately 

 under the root of a tree." 



Trans. Y.N.U., 1878 (pub. 1880). Series B 



