64 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE STONECHAT (PRATINCOLA 

 RUBICOLA) IN YORKSHIRE. 



By E. p. Butterfield. 



A DETAILED account of the county of broad acres in this 

 article would be out of place, suffice it to say that Yorkshire is 

 the largest, and, with Lancashire, the most southern of the six 

 northern counties of England, nearly through the centre of which 

 runs the parallel of 54° north latitude, and contains 6095 square 

 miles, or about 3,882,000 acres, and is divided into three Ridings, 

 North, West, and East. The North Riding includes that portion 

 of the county between the river Derwent and the county of Dur- 

 ham, the West Riding being separated therefrom by the Ouse, 

 Ure, and the hills above Wharfedale ; whilst the East Riding 

 occupies the south-eastern portion of the county, and is divided 

 by the Ouse from the West, and the river Derwent from the 

 Nortli Riding. One of the most striking physical features of the 

 shire is the great central vale of Yoik, which is narrow and 

 somewhat elevated in the north, but as it approaches the Humber 

 widens out into a large and swampy flat. East and west of this 

 valley is enclosed by tracts of considerable elevation, which in 

 the former terminates in the north in bleak moorlands, which 

 attain a height of over 1000 ft. ; in the latter the ground gradually 

 increases in height until it ultimately forms part of the Pennine 

 chain, which in Yorkshire attains some of its highest elevations 

 on Whernside (2414 ft.), Penyghent (2273 ft.), Ingleborough 

 (2373 ft.), and Dent Crag (2253 ft.), whose eastern sides give 

 rise to the waters of the Wharfe, Aire, Nidd, tributaries of 

 the Ouse, which flows into the Humber, the latter of which 

 receives nearly all the drainage of the whole county ; the ex- 

 ceptional portions of the county not drained by the Humber 

 being a small portion of the west, which is drained by the Ribble, 

 the north by the Tees, and the east directly by the German 

 Ocean. The elevated tracts of the south of the east of the vale 



