IQ2 



NOTES on YORKSHIRE BIRDS. 

 Nightingales at Knaresborough.— A pair of Nightingales have this 

 year taken up their abode upon the banks of the Nidd, between the Low 

 Bridge and Grimbald Bridge. A pair appeared almost in the exact place 

 some years ago. The natives are nightly being delighted with the song-, 

 which is very fine. What can have induced them to penetrate so far north 

 during such a cold spring? — R. Fortune, Harrogate, 12th May 1902. 



Black-headed Gull Nesting in North Yorkshire in 1702.— The 



second volume of the new series of the 'Cumberland and Westmorland 

 Antiq. and Archaeological Society' appeared early in May, and contains 

 a further portion of Bishop Nicolson's Diaries. On 13th May 1702, Nicolson 

 was elected Bishop of Carlisle. On the 15th he was on his way to York, 

 and at Nunnery on the 22nd May, via B rough to Greta Bridge. On 23rd 

 May ' Baited at Butcher Houses . . . About a mile and a half short of 

 Thornton Bridge thousands of the Blackcap-Mews breeding- on a moss.' 

 This, I suppose, would be the Black-headed Gull {Larus ridibundus L. ) ? 



It is to be hoped the Bishop of Barrow will collect the natural history 

 notes in these diaries, for they affect more county lists than one. — S. L. 

 Petty, Ulverston, 20th May 1902. 



Increase of the Great Spotted Woodpecker in the Wilsden 

 District. — It is very gratifying to find that the Great Spotted Woodpecker 

 {Dendrocopus major) is on the increase in this district. In one familiar wood 

 where a few years ago one pair used to breed, there are now several. On 

 the other hand, the Green Woodpecker [Gecinus viridis) appears to have 

 diminished. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (D. minor) occasionally 

 visits here, but I have never known it to breed. I observed a Great Spotted 

 Woodpecker in a wood adjoining Chellow Dean reservoir, close to the city 

 of Bradford, during March. One would be inclined to think in this timber- 

 felling age the Woodpeckers would be the first to feel the pinch of want, 

 and it is very pleasing to know that they still hold their own. — Rosse 

 Butterfield, Wilsden, 28th April 1902. 



Migratory Note on the Pied Flycatcher and Chiffchaff in West 

 Yorkshire. — A male Pied Flycatcher {Ficedirta atricapilla) was observed 

 on i6th April by my father, working its way up one of the main tributaries of 

 the river Aire in this district. This is an exceptionally early date for the 

 appearance of this species in these parts. Three years ago I saw a male in 

 almost exactly the same place on the 28th April, and regarded that at the 

 time as early. But it is not the early appearance of this charming- little bird 

 that I want to emphasise, but the phenomenon of the Pied Flycatcher and 

 also the Chiffchaff [Phylloscopiis minor) periodically appearing on their 

 spring migration in this particular valley without regularly staying- to breed, 

 it being apparently suitable for both species. 



I know of but one instance on record of the Pied Flycatcher actuallv 

 breeding, another in which a pair commenced to nest but was eventually 

 abandoned, and of the Chiffchaff there is no authentic record. 



The valley included — from the source of the tributary to its junction at 

 the Aire near Bing-ley — is perfectly familiar to both pay father and myself, 

 and it seems scarcely probable that such obvious birds could be overlooked 

 year after year ; therefore you are bound to infer that this is merely part of 

 their migration route, and that they cross over elsewhere to their ultimate 

 destination. Needless to say both species are generally observed on trees 

 abutting- the stream, such as Alders and Willows, when in the early spring 

 insect life is abundant. 



I visited the breeding haunts of the Pied Flycatcher in Wharfedale on 

 26th April, yet strange to say I did not see an example, though as my time 

 was limited it may be they were overlooked. 



Formerly this species was considered somewhat rare and local, but my 

 experience, both in Yorkshire and elsewhere, is that it by no means merits 

 the term ' rare ' in suitable localities. — Rosse Butterfield, Wilsden, 

 Bradford, 28th April 1902. 



Naturalist, 



