Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/91

Rh in a letter recently, informs me that "it is fast dying out here. It was never plentiful, always local and scarce, and found in but one or two localities as a breeding species."

In South Yorkshire Mr. Dixon states that it breeds, but does not say whether commonly or but occasionally, in the Rivalin Valley; and the late Mr. Lister includes it in his list of spring migrants. It is certainly rare now in South-west Yorkshire. Mr. S.L. Moseley recently informed me that he had never known of its occurrence in the Huddersfield district but twice; and it is exceptionally rare about Hebden Bridge. There is no doubt but that it occasionally breeds in the Wakefield district, as mentioned by the late Mr. Talbot; and the same remark applies to the Leeds district, though it would appear to breed less occasionally as the north-west fells are approached.

After reviewing all the information to hand regarding the distribution of the Stonechat in Yorkshire, it cannot be said with exactitude to be common in any district, and, contrary to what one might expect, as it was formerly thought to be more of a sub-alpine species, it is more common in the extreme east than in the west, more especially the north-west fells, where it appears to have almost died out as a nesting species, occurring occasionally on migration, but chiefly in spring; and it would be interesting to ascertain whither these are bound, and by what migration route they arrive. So far as my experience goes, this species, other conditions being similar, prefers the coast to the inland districts. Of course these notes are not given with any pretensions to completeness or finality, but as a small contribution to a subject which is much shrouded in mystery; and it is to be hoped they will elicit further information from naturalists in all parts of the county. It might be stated here that the observations of ornithologists would possess a higher value if they would state with clearness whether, in including the Stonechat in any local lists, it was to be regarded as a breeding species, and with what frequency, or merely on migration.