342 Yorkshire Natural History 200 Years Ago. 
with them, .may make good the Character, which we find given 
of the Whole put together, viz. That it is the best Shire of 
England, not because ’tis the biggest (as Good is sometimes 
taken for Great, as a good Blow, good Piece, &c.) but in the 
properest Acceptation, as it affords more Necessaries of Life, 
and more profitable Commodities than any other singly; 
being so placed by Nature, that it enjoys almost all the Benefits, 
that either Sea or Land can bestow. But this will more fully 
appear by considering it by these Parts. 1. The Air. 2. 
Earth. 3. Water. 4. Fire. 
1. The Air indeed in this Riding is colder than in the 
other two, being elevated more to the cold Clime, the Northern 
Pole ; but that rather betters the Air, than renders it unwhole- 
some ; for Cold not only clarifies the Air, but hinders noxious 
Fogs from rising ; yea, and moreover strengthens Human 
Bodies by closing the pores, which Heat opens, and by that 
Means much impairs the Stength. Hence it is the most 
Robust Men come out of the North, and the Northern Nations 
yield the most hardy Soldiers. There is one rare Phenomenon 
relating to the Air here, which we can’t but mention, though we 
have not Judgment enough to solve it. There is a certain 
Piece of Ground near Whitby in this Riding, over which when 
the Wild-Geese fly in Winter to the unfrozen Lakes and Rivers 
in the more Southern Parts in great Flocks, they suddenly 
fall down to the Ground, to the great Amazement of all Be- 
holders. We should not have taken notice of this Accident, 
had w f e not been well assured of the truth of it from several 
Credible Persons. What Cause to impute this to, we can’t 
tell ; we have not Faith enough to believe, that the Holy 
Abbess Hilda hath by her Prayers entailed such a Quality 
upon this Ground, as destroys those Fowls, if they so much as 
fly over. Others, who are less inclined to Superstition, attri- 
bute it to some occult Quality in the Ground, to which the 
Wild-Geese have a Natural Antipathy, as 'tis said Wolves 
have to the Scylla- Roots ; for that there are such sudden 
Tendencies and Aversions, as Sympathies and Antipathies 
is allow’d on all Hands ; and ’tis from such an Antipathy that 
the Wild-Geese fall in these Lands ; but it seems to us more 
probable, that this hurtful Quality should be in the Air itself, 
and that at a great distance from the Earth ; for Wild-Geese 
fly high ; and did not the noxious Vapour greatly spread itself, 
it is probable it could not affect them ; but we assert nothing 
positively ; let the more skilful in Nature’s Work judge, and 
rectify any Mistake. What if the Air should be so pure here, 
that it is not fit for breathing, and so the Wild-Geese faint and 
fall. 
2. Earth, or Soil, is not much different from that of the other 
Ridings, but being more hilly must be something more barren ; 
Naturalist, 
