8 
YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS* UNION. 
SECTIONS. 
The President and Secretary of the Union are ex-olficio Members 
of all the Sections and Committees. 
Vertebrate Section. — The Officers have to report that 
increased interest has been taken in the work of this section 
during- the past year, and have to thank members for their better 
attendance at the Union's excursions, and for their increased 
contributions to the pages of the " NaturaHst " m response to our 
request a 3^ear ago. 
The chief event of the year has been the publication of the 
''Birds of Yorkshire," by Mr. T. H. Nelson. This great 
work will be. the recognised standard for ornithology in York- 
shire for a long time to come, and it has already taken its 
place amongst the very best county avifaunas. Although we 
recognise some imperfections (which might almost have been 
avoided if a committee, fully representative of the Yorkshire 
ornithologists, had been formed to have read the proofs before 
publication) ; yet the members of this section beg to congratulate 
the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union on the addition of two such 
handsome and valuable volumes to its transactions ; and offer 
their best thanks and congratulations to Mr. Nelson for the 
almost endless trouble and labour which the production of the 
" Birds of Yorkshire " must have entailed. 
In the West Riding there are no new additions to make for 
the past year, and nothing to report of exceptional rarity. But 
the members of this section are now more carefully working 
out the true distribution of the vertebrate fauna of the county 
than probably has been done at any time previously. 
The past winter was a long, dragging, and rather severe one, 
but not of sufficient severity to cause any great mortality amongst 
the birds. The sudden and severe spell of nearly Arctic winter 
at Christmas caused almost a "stampede" of the passerine birds 
from the inland districts, which was followed by a great influx 
of ducks (Mallards, Pochards, Goldeneyes, etc.), but nothing of 
exceptional rarity was noted. The winter was succeeded by a 
spring and summer which for wet, cold, and absence of sun would 
be hard to beat. The nesting operations of many species were 
most seriously interfered with, and there was great destruction of 
eggs and young birds — more especially with those species that 
nest upon the ground. Most of the summer migratory birds were 
later in arriving, and in settling down, than in normal years. 
Several species returned in lesser numbers (including the Black- 
cap), and the Landrail still continues to decrease. Starlings 
continued nesting until quite late in the season, many young birds 
being in their nests until the middle of July. In the month of 
