The Great Crested Grebe Enquiry and Census of 1931 89 
plentiful, and that they had a great affection for our bare legs. I have 
often wondered since if the Great Crested Grebe would eat leeches, but 
I have never got any nearer to a solution of the question. 
In 1931 three pairs were known to have nested in this Riding, viz. : — 
Castle Howard, near Malton. — Two pairs have nested for many 
years and more in some years, viz. : in 1910. Believed to have first 
nested there (one pair) about 1890. 
Wigganthorpe , eight miles due west of Malton. — One pair has nested 
regularly each year since about 1906. 
A water in this Riding which one would expect the Great-Crested • 
Grebe to nest regularly is Lake Gormire, near Northallerton, but for 
some unexplained reason these birds never nest there and rarely, if ever, 
visit it. 
The West Riding. « 
It is in this Riding that the great extension and colonization has 
taken place during the past forty years. Doubtless, there would be a 
few ancient nesting sites in the extreme south-east of the West Riding, 
such as on the pools of Thorne Waste or on the famous Potteric Carr, 
near Doncaster, before it was drained ; but I have never been able to 
obtain any reliable or satisfactory information on the matter. Clarke 
and Roebuck in 1881 dismissed the subject with that in 1865 one gentle- 
man told another that it occasionally bred in the West Riding. As 
both the authors lived in Leeds it may be taken as certain that this 
occasional breeding was not in their neighbourhood. I know personally 
that T. H. Nelson tried very hard to obtain proof of its ancient nesting 
in the West Riding and failed. 
In the Y.N.U. excursion circular for Thorne Waste on July nth, 
1907, the late Dr. H. H. Corbett gave the Great Crested Grebe amongst 
the list of birds that he had seen there in the nesting season. l In the 
excursion itself, in which Dr. Corbett was one of the leaders, the bird 
was not seen. 
In the following list the number of sites tenanted 
in 1931 are given, 
together with the number of pairs and 
the 
date, or 
approximate date, 
when each site was first occupied. 
Site. 
Pairs in 
I93i- 
Year of 
Colonization . 
Dring Houses, York ... 
3 
1921 (1 pair) . 
Barlow Cuttings, near Selby 
3 
1925 (1 pair) . 
Drax Hales, near Selby 
1 
1930. 
Drax H. and B. Cuttings, near Selby 
1 
1931- 
Walton Park, Wakefield 
1 
1890 (about.) 
Bretton Park , Lower Lake ... 
2 
1906 (about). 
Nostell Priory 
1 
1892 . 
Rvhill Reservoir 
7 
1890 (about). 
Newmiller Dam, near Wakefield 
1 
1909. 
Fairburn, near Castleford 
16 
1921 (3 pairs). 
Worsborough Dam, near Barnsley ... 
1 
1890 (about). 
Rockley Dam, near Barnsley 
1 
i93i- 
Thrybergh Reservoirs, near Rotherham 
2 
1919 (about). 
Harthill Big Pond, near Rotherham 
3 
1890 (about). 
Harewood Park 
2 
1890 (about). 
Washburn Reservoirs : — 
(1) Fewston 
1 
1902 (about). 
(2) Swinsty 
2 
1902 (about). 
(3) Lindley 
1 
I 93 I • 
Gouthwaite Reservoir 
1 
1905 (about). 
Chelker Reservoir, near Addingham 
1 
1921 . 
Malham Tarn ... 
1 
1921 . 
1 Y.N.U. Transactions, 
1909. 
1933 April 1 
