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AN UNRECORDED OCCURRENCE OF THE GOLDEN 

 EAGLE IN YORKSHIRE. 



HERBERT PROD HAM, 



Allcrsion, near Pickeri7ig. 



On reading the article about Eagles in the November number of the 

 Naturalist^ it occurred to me that perhaps the last Golden Eagle 

 seen in this part of Yorkshire was one shot b)^ Tom Fewster, a 

 neighbour's son and school-fellow of mine, at Helwath, the upper 

 end of Harwood Dale, and about ten miles from Scarborough, in the 

 winter of 1850-51. I remember Fewster calling with the bird in 

 a basket at my father's house the morning following its capture — it 

 was alive, and apparently little the worse — on his way to Hackness 

 Hall, to present it to our landlord. Sir John Johnstone. It so 

 happened that the meet of the hounds was at Hackness Hall, and 

 Squire Hill, of Thornton, the owner and master of the hounds, so 

 much coveted the bird that he was allowed by Sir John to have it ; 

 and it was said at the time that, ardent sportsman as he was, so 

 pleased was he with his prize, that he had little thought for the 

 hounds that day. 



Thinking that some particulars of this bird would be of interest, 

 I called the other day on Mr. Hill, of Thornton, and he kindly 

 supplied me with the following : — ' The bird,' he writes, ' when brought 

 home by his father's whip, was found to be only half pinioned, and 

 it fully recovered the use of its wing. A large cage was built for it, 

 and it lived in captivity for over fifteen years, and, when in good 

 plumage and apparently the best of health, was one morning found 

 dead. When captured, Mr. Hill says, it was evidently a young bird, 

 having black bars at the end of its tail, and a whitish rump. The 

 tail is said to become wholly black or dark coloured (in nature) in 

 the third year. In this one, in confinement, the tail gradually increased 

 from the tip upwards in colour, only becoming uniformly black the 

 year it died. The bird was fed twice a week only, on rats, rabbits, 

 and birds, and occasionally a hedgehog, and was not ' very good,' 

 except to the man who fed him.' 



Mr. Hill had the bird set up by Graham, of York, and I may add 

 that it now adorns his choice collection of stuffed animals. 



NO TE— ORNITHOL OGY. 

 Occurrence of the Hawfinch in Wensleydale.— On January 8th 

 the Hon. W. O. Powlett, Wensley Hall, sent me for preservation a fine specimen 

 (female) of the Hawfinch {Coccothraristes vidgaris), which was caught in the garden 

 by means of a wire sieve. Last year, he says, the gardeners finding the birds so 

 destructive to peas killed seven or eight. They had apparently been bred in some 

 of the woods near.— Edwd. Chapman, Carperby, Bedale, February is t, 1887. 



Naturalist, 



