178 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



the presumption in question. Personally, I have never 

 shared that expectation, nor the opinion that such wild- 

 fowl breed in England, or that, by legislation, they may 

 be induced to do so. Years of close observation during 

 the spring months on the moors must annihilate any such 

 "pious hope," and, with all deference to those who think 

 otherwise, I consider that it is only "the wish that is 

 father to the thought." 



Into this question, a degree of credulity has sometimes 

 been imported that, in other cases, is discountenanced ; 

 and evidence has been accepted which an unbiassed 

 mind would dismiss as valueless. Thus, a fictitious 

 importance has been attached to chance appearances in 

 summer of any of the Arctic-breeding birds, ignoring the 

 wide difference between the Arctic calendar and our own. 

 Here, April is the nesting season, there July. There are, 

 moreover, several genera (comprising ducks, gulls, and 

 some waders) which certainly do not breed at all in their 

 first year ; and the young (immature) birds of such species 

 sometimes remain here throughout the summer. We have 

 scoters, for example, on the north-east coast all the year 

 round, but it would be absurd to conclude therefrom that 

 the scoter breeds here. Again, one may see, on the sand- 

 flats and slakes, a few bar-tailed godwits, knots, turnstones, 

 and even grey plovers during summer ; and I have observed 

 the whimbrel inland during every month from May to 

 September. It must be borne in mind that no amount 

 of probabilities amount to a fact. On the other hand, so 

 materially do the young of many of the duck-tribe differ 

 from the adults, and so infinitesimal is the knowledge 

 possessed by nine-tenths of sportsmen on this subject, 

 that it is quite conceivable that these rarer birds might 

 pass unrecognised, even if they should happen to be 



