DISTRIBUTION OF STONECHAT IN YORKSHIRE 65 



of York, here called wolds, do not reach to the coast, but form, 

 where the Yorkshire water system combines to form the Hamber, 

 a large alluvial tract of country known as the Holderness. 



The geology of the county is of a varied chai'acter ; the lime- 

 stones and shales form the mountain masses in the north-west, 

 and are succeeded in the south-east by the millstone grit forma- 

 tion; whilst west and south-west of the central vale the carbon- 

 iferous system attains its maximum development. In the west 

 the Silurian occasionally crops up, and a belt of lias skirts the 

 coast south of Whitby, and after a very circuitous course comes 

 into contact with the chalk near Market Weighton. As might be 

 expected from such a diversity of physical conditions, the climate 

 varies greatly, being dry and bleak in the east, comparatively 

 mild in the central vale ; whilst the elevated portions of the 

 west and north-west are marked by a tolerably healthy climate, 

 but are swept by high winds, and have a heavy rainfall. 

 This is well shown by the fact that while the mean annual 

 rainfall of the east is 26 inches, that of the west is 36*44 inches. 

 This heavy rainfall in the West Riding is probably due to 

 the land there being aggregated in mountain masses, and as the 

 prevalent winds are from the west and south-west, they come 

 laden with aqueous vapour, which, on coming into contact with 

 the high ground, is precipitated as rain. This excessive rainfall 

 and low teniperatuie may account to some extent for the absence 

 or extreme scarcity of a few of our summer migrants in the 

 north-west fells. 



The Stonechat in Yorkshire used to be regarded as " common 

 and generally distributed in suitable localities " ; but, if so 

 once, is so no longer, and is now both local and scarce, and 

 very erratic in its distribution. It is, however, highly probable, 

 if not certain, that formerly it was commoner than at present, at 

 least in the north-western portion of the county, and it is to be 

 feared that, as a breeding species, it is dying out. In this district 

 (Wilsden) I am not aware of its having bred for over thirty years, 

 which is very strange, as gorse is quite common on the waste 

 lands, and flourishes up to 1000 ft. 



An old friend once told me that he found what he took to be 

 the nest of the Stonechat near here, which must be forty if not 

 fifty years ago. This instance, and another recorded by Mr. 



