death o f a chick from a blow of its pointed bill, a considerable portion of the victim being afterwards eaten.
No one who has lived much on the Thames, or other localities frequented by this bird, can have failed to be
struck by the fury and boldness with which it will attack a rat, a duck, o r even so large a bird as a swan,
if it approaches its nest.
‘‘At the beginning of July,” says H. J . Partridge, Esq., of Hockham Hall, near Thetford, in Norfolk,
“ the keeper having lost several Pheasants about three weeks old from a copse, and having set traps in vain
for winged and four-footed vermin, determined to keep watch for the aggressor, wheu, after some time,
a Moorhen was seen walking about near the copse. The keeper, supposing it only came to eat the young
Pheasants’ food, did not shoot it, until he saw the Moorhen strike a young Pheasant, which it killed immediately
and devoured, except the leg- and wing-bones. T h e remains agreed exactly with eight found before.
Perfect confidence may be placed in the correctness o f this statement.”— Zoologist, 1854, p. 4255.
For further evidence in proof o f the correctness o f these statements see my account o f the Moorhen
in the fourth volume.
In case what 1 have here and there said respecting the pugnacious and carnivorous propensities o f the
Moorhen should excite surprise, I may mention that they appear to be shared in common with all the other
members o f the group to which it belongs, from the delicately formed Rail to tbe most robust Porphyrio ;
and that they are all of a combative disposition is evidenced by the possession o f a sharp spur on the wing,
short in some of the species, and prolonged in others.
The question has arisen whether, when we consider the present comparative scarcity o f the Peregrine and
other o f their enemies, it will be really advisable to encourage the breeding of the marine o r cliff birds,
many persons being fearful that such a measure would lead to a great decrease in our edible fish, upon
which they solely subsist. T h e daily quantity consumed by the Gannet and Cormorant, to say nothing of
the Guillemots, Terns, &c., is greatly beyond conception, thus showing th at both care and judgement are
necessary with regard to the new laws about to be enacted.
Had a measure been passed fifty years ago and penalties enforced for killing tbe Great Auk and the few
remaining Bustards that then stalked over our great plains, we should doubtless have still had these two fine
birds gracing our islands ; as it is, the former (Alca impennis or Gare Fowl) is wholly extirpated from the
waters, not only o f our own country, but of the universe. The Bustard still holds its own on the Continent,
whence now and then in the course o f a few years one strays over the seas, and visits the haunts o f those o f
its kind which formerly existed h e r e ; its permanent residence again among us, however, is rendered impossible
by the gradual disappearance under cultivation o f the vast plains and wolds over which it roamed,
whereby they have been rendered incompatible with its existence. The Capercaillie, which probably died
out from natural causes, was wholly absent for a hundred years; but, owing to the replanting o f pinc-forests,
the conditions favourable to its welfare are returning, and a fresh introduction has reinstated it. Other
birds, such as the Crane, Spoonbill, Bittern, Avocet, and the Ruff, which were once very common, have
now, owing to the draining o f our fens and marshes, no resting-places where they could dwell in peace and
unmolested. Thus it will be seen that by man’s industry in effecting improvements certain natural
productions are greatly interfered witb.
With regard to the exact enumeration of the birds frequenting the British Islands there must always he
considerable difficulties, inasmuch as many persons would hesitate to include in our lists such species as have
from time to time strayed over from America, or others which we may reasonably suppose to have escaped
from confinement. With these difficulties in view I have restricted the additions to our list of native birds,
with only a few exceptions, to those species pertaining to the fauna o f the Old World which, without
constantly residing in onr islands, have from time to time appeared therein, and whose visits oft repeated
may ultimately entitle them to a permanent place in onr lists. I may state with tolerable accuracy that the
total number of our species is about three hundred and fifty.
I f the supposed number of birds inhabiting the globe be about 10,000, it must be admitted that the British
Islands have their due proportion of them. Of course it would be quite out o f place to institute a comparison
between our country, or even the whole temperate region of either hemisphere, and the tropics, where bird,
life is so redundant, in accordance with the profusion of fruits and insects upon which they mainly subsist.
I t must be conceded by every one who has paid attention to general ornithology, that very considerable
difficulties exist in the formation of a perfect scientific arrangement of the birds o f the British Islands, since
these are but an appendage of a vast tract embracing the two continents of Europe and Asia, sections of the
world assimilating in their bird-life, not only as regards genera, but in many instances also with respect to
species. Hence in our own lists there will be occasionally breaks, as it were, that would be filled up by
forms which, while found not far distant from us, still have never been actually killed in our islands. Far
wider gaps will of necessity occur through the absence o f such genera as are peculiar to Australia (the
Bower-, Lyre-, and Mound-raising birds), or of those which are confined exclusively to tbe New World
(Toucans, Trogons, Humming-birds, &c.).
Man has frequently been induced to try his hand a t the introduction of certain species the acquisition of
which he has considered desirable; such attempts have generally proved futile. Nature having adapted each
for a certain locality, the climate and the condition o f the country must be altered and rendered fit for
the reception o f either bird o r quadruped before there is the slightest chance o f their successful naturalization.
Many persons have been desirous o f establishing the North-American Prairie-Hen ( Cupidonia cupido)