36 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union : Annual Report , 1921. 
that some, if not all, the Eshton Herons have this year left Lords Wood,,, 
and have nested in the High Wood, at Flashy, in the same neighbourhood .. 
A Great Crested Grebe (or possibly two) frequented Malham Tarn for 
most of the year (A. Ward). When I was there on July 1 6th, there 
were two Great Crested Grebes ; but I could not see any signs of young,, 
or of breeding. In fact the birds did not behave as though they were a 
pair ; but three parties out fishing in boats may have partly accounted' 
for their behaviour. A pair of these Grebes frequented Chelker reservoir 
(near Addingham) during April (C. A. Cheetham), but did not 
remain to nest there (J. L. Illingworth). A Jay was seen on January 
1st near to Bolton Abbey (H. T. Bates), and in the spring two were 
seen about the same place for several weeks, and appeared likely to nest 
there ; but it is feared that one of them was shot (T. Roose). A 
Grasshopper Warbler ‘ reeled ’ on most evenings throughout June at 
Farnley, within the city boundary of Leeds ! It is thought that hay- 
making operations may have driven it away (Chris. A. Cheetham). 
Rather curiously a Grasshopper-Warbler ‘ reeled ’ continuously for a 
few hours on the Rhyddings, just above Ilkley, on the evening of June 
29th, and I never saw or heard it either before of after that date. Was it 
the driven -away Farnley bird that had taken up its quarters at Ilkley~ 
for one night? Swallows have been rather scarcer than usual this 
.year ; but as they appeared to have enjoyed a favourable nesting season, 
it is to be hoped that they will return in larger numbers next spring.. 
After several poor seasons, Red Grouse have had an exceptionally good 
year, excepting in the extreme north-west of the Riding. 
Later Mr. L. Gaunt informed me that Woodcocks have been very 
numerous in Bolton Woods (Wharf edale) this year, and Mr. R. Chislett 
reports that throughout August an Osprey occupied the same ground in 
the extreme south-west of the Riding as had been occupied by the White- 
tailed Eagle earlier on. 
East Riding (E. W. Wade) : — The feature of the season has bsen 
the abundant sunshine, a record as far as the present generation can 
remember. After the heavy frost during the third week of December, 
1920, followed a very open winter, with sufficient rain until mid -March, 
a heavy snowfall with frosts occurred in mid -April, but the rest of the 
year until July was very dry. On the wolds about Bempton there was 
no rain worth naming from February to July. The effect of the unusual 
sunshine was very marked . The resident and partially migratory species 
were early in nesting, and with few exceptions the season was an unusually 
early and favourable one, full and strong broods were reared, casualties 
were few, and some remarkable instances of second and third broods were 
recorded. The migrants left early, with practically no stragglers. 
Peewit’s eggs were observed on the Wolds in March, but the drought 
seems to have prevented many birds either from nesting or rearing young. 
A keeper with a long experience says that on the Wolds their numbers 
are not one third of what they were before the war. The full time 
protection extended to the species has aroused much opposition among 
shooting men, but I have the testimony of a Holderness farmer as to the 
welcome accorded to it by observant people. He says he has known a 
turnip field saved from destruction by grubs through the good work of 
Peewits. Rooks were early and laying full clutches. Young were 
hatched on 24th March, a record for this part of the county, as far as 
I am aware. The farmers complain of the damage done by this bird to 
the crops, , and the writer, with a friend, tried the experiment of clearing 
out every egg in a rookery on 26th March, when 164 eggs were taken.. 
On 23rd April the nests were again cleared of eggs and young, after 
which no more breeding was attempted. The Corvidse were, generally 
speaking, early, and prolific, with the exception of the Jackdaw, which 
seems to have been affected by the drought, as small clutches were laid. 
Naturalist- 
