YORKSHIRE: 



Its PHYSICAL ASPECT and VERTEBRATE FAUNA. 



YORKSHIRE, the largest county of the British Isles, con- 

 taining an area of 3,936,242 statute acres, or 6150 square 

 miles, and situate between 53° 18' and 54° 40' N. latitude and 

 about 9' E. and 2^ 36' W. longitude of the meridian of Greenwich, 

 is also one of the most compact in form, the most varied in 

 geological structure, soil, climate, and physical aspect. 



The lands of Yorkshire rise in masses from S.E. to N.W., in a 

 direction which corresponds with that of the age of the underlying 

 rocks, the oldest or palaeozoic formations constituting the high 

 mountains of the north-west, whilst the newest or tertiary 

 deposits of Holderness occupy the opposite or south-east angle. 

 Thus a line drawn from the beach at Spurn to the highest summit 

 of Yorkshire — Mickle Fell, 2596 feet — marks not only the general 

 slope of the high lands but their succession in geological time, 

 and is moreover the longest line (120 miles) that it is possible to 

 draw within the county. 



Broadly speaking the most salient features of its physical con- 

 figuration are the great central depression and the flanking masses 

 of hills to the east and west. 



The North- Western Fells is a wild and picturesque tract 

 of mountainous country, ascending to 2596 feet at the extreme 

 north-western angle of the county, and nowhere descending to a 

 lower elevation than about four hundred feet. A district of lofty 

 hills, thirty-six of which attain an altitude of two thousand feet or 

 more, of extensive stretches of heathery moorlands, of grassy 

 slopes and grey limestone scars, diversified by waterfalls, caves, 



