ROUGH NESTING NOTES FROM YORKSHIRE.
By Oxley Grabham, M.A., M.B.O.U.
Herons had eggs the second week in February in spite of most inclement weather, and they still hold their own in face of persistent trapping on the trout streams. I remember some years ago, when fishing for the first time a well-known stream which shall be nameless, my wrath at seeing five Herons gibbeted hard by; a few days' experience, however, convinced me that a clean bill cannot unfortunately be given to them, for they often destroy fine fish which they cannot possibly eat, out of sheer devilment, and fond as I am of them, I must own they do a good deal of harm; however, I believe fully in the principle of live and let live, and would gladly sacrifice a few fish for the pleasure of seeing this stately bird. Thanks to the protection afforded it on certain estates, it is likely to gladden the eyes of the field naturalist for some time to come.
Woodcock are increasing yearly, and I know of a wood where over twenty pairs have bred this year, but the young are off long before the shooting season. The same increase I have noted in the breeding of Snipe and Redshank. I know of many colonies of the latter, one numbering nearly twenty pairs of birds, and so far from the nests always being placed in a tuft of grass, with the blades most carefully concealing the eggs, as we are told in the books, I have frequently found them on the open moor amidst the short ling, without any attempt at concealment; and I have found Snipe in exactly similar places.
The Lapwing, despite the netting, egging, and shooting that it has to contend with, holds its own well in most places: this I attribute to their wonderful adaptability to circumstances. I find their nests equally on the highest fells, in the marshy plains, on the moorlands, and amidst enclosed ground, and no matter how their eggs are taken, in a very short time they are laying again. I see Mr. Cordeaux states that the Lapwing is getting scarcer in
