100 WAITE: VERTEBRATES OF THE WESTERN AINSTY. 
I have of such a fact is that one was shot near Wetherby Grange 
‘about twenty years ago’ (W. J. Milligan, 1880). 
Falco zsalon Tunstall. Merlin. An occasional visitant to the 
district in winter. One was shot near Wetherby on the 16th 
December, 1877. A second is recorded also near Wetherby, 
Dec. 1877 (Backhouse, Zool., March 1878, p. 106). 
sah tinnunculus Linn. Kestrel. Local name, Brown Hawk. 
sid The commonest of the Falconide ; breeds regularly 
in nine of the woods throughout the district. 
Falco cenchris Naum. Lesser Kestrel. A mature male, now 
in the York Museum, was shot at Wilstrop by Mr. John Har- 
rison, in the middle of November, 1867 (for detailed account 
see Clarke’s ‘ Birds of Yorkshire,’ p. 21). 
Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.). Cormorant. The Rev. J. W. 
Chaloner has in his collection an example which he shot at 
Newton Kyme in 1852, and Mr. John Emmet tells me that the 
late Coote Alexr. Carroll saw three flying over Toulson Lodge 
in 1868. 
Sula bassana (Linn.). Gannet. Iam told that an example in 
immature plumage was picked up in 1888 at Hessay, about two 
miles from Wilstrop, having injured itself by flying against the 
telegraph wires. 
Ardea cinerea Linn. Heron. Resident, and fairly common 
both on the Nidd and Wharfe. I have also several times: 
flushed it from a reedy pond near Walton. It formerly bred in 
Wilstrop Wood, and has done so in recent years in a wood near 
Goldsborough, and also at Ribstone. The nearest heronry is at 
Harewood Park. There was formerly one at Wetherby (Harting, 
‘Field, Feb. 7th, 1872, p. 146). In 1889 a pair nested at 
Ingmanthorpe, and successfully reared five young ones. 
Botaurus stellaris (Linn.). Bittern. Formerly this now rare 
bird was not uncommon in the district, and has occasionally ° 
been seen during more recent years. ‘It has been shot at 
Skewkirk’ (Tennant MS., 1880). ‘Shot near Smaws Wood, 
Tadcaster in 1842’ (Emmet MS.). Mr. Wm. Cass has in his 
possession a very fine example which he shot on the Nidd, near 
Wilstrop, in 1860. A few years later one was shot at Spofforth. 
The Rev. J. W. Chaloner tells me that specimens have been 
obtained at Newton Kyme and Tadcaster. One recorded from 
Grimston Park, Tadcaster, was killed in December, 1884- 
(Backhouse, ‘ Naturalist,’ 1884-5, p. 149). The last pes 
aturalist, 
