YORKSHIRE— PHYSICAL ASPECT. xxiii 



bittern, the ' sholarde,' the crane, and the ruff, and possibly of the 

 beaver. That it was originally fen is shown by the fact that in or 

 before Haworth's time it was inhabited by characteristic marsh- 

 loving insects, and even the swallow-tailed butterfly i^Papilio 

 machaoji) is recorded as having formerly occurred. This is not 

 improbable, for though the insect is now confined exclusively to 

 the fens of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, there is evidence to show 

 that formerly it had a much more extensive range over England, 

 even as far w^st as Shropshire, and southw^ard to Dorsetshire and 

 Hampshire. The sheets of water Avhich formerly diversified the 

 surface were made use of for the establishment of decoys for the 

 capture of wild duck, and consequently we find that the greater 

 number — four out of seven — of the decovs known to have existed 

 in Yorkshire were here, at Home, Meaux, Watton, and Scorborough. 



The impetus given to agriculture about the close of the last 

 century, and the rapid development of high farming, proved fatal 

 to much of the ornithological wealth of Holderness. The decoys 

 were destroyed by the Holderness (1762) and the Beverley and 

 Barmston (1800) drainage schemes; and many haunts were broken 

 up by the general revival of agriculture. 



Among the animals which once inhabited the district the herd 

 of wild white cattle, which survived at Burton Constable till about 

 the close of the last century, deserves mention. 



Holderness, even now% is a rich ornithological district, the 

 turtle dove and the quail being regular summer visitants, and 

 the hawfinch breeds annually in some abundance. On Hornsea 

 Mere — the largest natural sheet of water in Yorkshire — the reed 

 warbler, the pochard, and the great crested grebe breed regularly; 

 and it has produced some of the rarest Yorkshire visitants, such 

 as the great white heron, the broad-billed sandpiper and others. 

 The mere is inhabited by pike, which attain to enormous size, and 

 are exceedingly destructive to the birds which frequent the water, 

 especially the young ones, a circumstance probably explaining the 

 absence of the little grebe. 



The Yorkshire Coast-line — commencing at the mouth 

 of the Tees, and extending 117 miles in length to Spurn Point — 



