204 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



trapped or shot. The popular idea is that all hawks are 

 mischievous, and that, therefore, they should be extirpated. 

 The Peregrine and the Sparrow Hawk certainly do mischief; 

 but most, if not all, of those enumerated above are com- 

 paratively harmless, so far as game is concerned. The 

 Osprey is exclusively a fish eater, and the others feed princi- 

 pally on insects, voles, small birds, mice, and other vermin. 

 A story is told of a venerable Highland laird who, when 

 spoken to about the protection of " hawks," said " the name 

 ' hen harrier,' was quite enough for him " ! Truly, if one 

 gives a dog a bad name, you may as well hang him ! 

 Verb. sap. 



The causes which lead to the decrease and final extinction 

 of certain species of birds are, in my opinion, climatic con- 

 ditions, with the scarcity or abundance of food resulting 

 therefrom, and persecution. The exceptionally cold winter 

 of I 894-95 is an example of the effects of climate on bird life. 

 As is well known, those birds which could not escape from its 

 severity were decimated, and thousands of Song Thrushes, 

 Blackbirds, Redwings, and Starlings, besides innumerable 

 small birds, were found frozen during that long-continued 

 storm. For a time it looked as if several species would be 

 completely wiped out. Since then, a succession of com- 

 paratively mild winters and favourable summers has had 

 a wonderfully recuperative effect, and this year the numbers 

 of our song birds, generally, are as great as they were previous 

 to the winter above referred to. 



With regard to the other cause of decrease persecution 

 there is only one remedy, and that is strict and effective 

 protection. When it has become the misfortune for a bird 

 it matters not what species to arrive at a certain degree 

 of rarity, it also attains considerable notoriety, and one would 

 imagine there was the greater necessity for protecting it. 

 Instead of this being the case, however, it is hunted down 

 and shot as soon as it makes its appearance. If it has the 

 temerity to breed with us, and manages to do so before being 

 discovered and killed, there is a grand competition for the 

 honour of taking the nest and eggs, the old birds are shot for 

 the purpose of identification (!), and, with the exception of 

 the obituary flourish in the " Scotsman," there is the end of it ! 



