THE OSPREY 



(PANDION HALI^ETUS) 



TT is rather a remarkable fact that not a single 

 species of raptorial bird has been exterminated 

 in the British area within the historical period. 

 Of all species, the birds of prey have been subject 

 to the greatest amount of steady and persistent 

 persecution, and yet they have managed to survive. 

 Many of them, however, once common and widely 

 distributed, have become excessively local ; others 

 that formerly bred in England now only survive 

 in the wilder areas of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. 

 Generally speaking, birds of prey are thinly dis- 

 tributed, not collected in certain spots like more 

 gregarious species; and there can be little doubt 

 that to this fact they owe their survival. There 

 is a great falling off in the number of most 

 raptorial species, owing to the systematic trapping, 

 poisoning, and shooting which has gone on ever 

 since the preserving of game has been so widely 



8 "3 



