xxviii YORKSHIRE-PHYSICAL ASPECT. 



Situate about midway on the eastern seaboard of the British 

 Isles, and directly opposite the European continent, Yorkshire 

 is sufficiently far south to include species whose distribution is of 

 the southern type — such as the noctule, the nuthatch, and the 

 nightingale, which find in it the northern limit of their range, 

 while it is sufficiently far north to admit of the inclusion of such 

 species as the curlew, dunlin, &c., which here meet with their 

 southern breeding limits. 



As regards the influx of migratory birds, a glance at the map 

 of Europe will at once show the advantageous position of the 

 county. Not only does its coast lie opposite that of the continent, 

 but Flamborough is on the same parallel of latitude as Heligoland, 

 the island which is so renowned for the myriads of migrants which 

 pass and repass it every spring and autumn. The observations 

 made there for many years by Mr. Gatke show that all the birds 

 passing over Heligoland do so in a direction due E. and W. 

 Such a line of flight, if sustained, would land the stream of immi- 

 grants upon the Yorkshire coast, and especially upon the promi- 

 nent headland of Flamborpugh, which as a locality productive of 

 rare birds has few equals. 



The configuration of the coast materially increases the advan- 

 tage of the position, which is still more enhanced by the posses- 

 sion of two such points as Flamborough and Spurn. From the 

 Tees mouth the coast-line trends in a gracefully convex sweep in 

 a south-easterly direction to the headland of Flamborough — a 

 promontory which stands boldly out in the North Sea forty-three 

 miles in advance of the Tees mouth, and full fifty miles E. of 

 the mean longitude of the coast of Durham. South of Flam- 

 borough the coast-line recedes, and after the concave sweep of 

 Bridlington Bay, again advances, terminating in the long narrow 

 spit of Spurn, which — projecting sixty-two miles E. of the Tees 

 mouth — overlaps to a considerable extent the coast of Lincoln- 

 shire. Those birds — mostly waders and marine species — which 

 pursue a north and south course in their migrations, are in the 

 habit of following coast-lines, even though the latter keep well 

 out to sea. Such species making their way down the east coast 

 would probably pass the shores of Northumberland and Durham, 



