BIRD-LIFE ON THE MOORS IN AUGUST. 75 



but which have been stated to remain occasionally to breed 

 in the wilder and more remote parts of the British Islands. 

 According to some of the highest authorities on ornitholog}^ 

 there are several species of our winter wildfowl of which a few 

 pairs do remain to breed with us. If that was generally the 

 case, the northern moorlands would certainly offer such birds 

 the most attractive and congenial home ; some of them, conse- 

 quently, might reasonably be expected to fall in the way of 

 the invading army of gunners in August. That they do not 

 do so is strong negative evidence against the supposition in 

 question. Personally, I have never shared the opinion, either 

 that these wildfowl breed in England, or that by legislation 

 they may be induced to do so ; with the utmost deference to 

 those who think otherwise, I fear it is only " the wish that is 

 father to the thought." England is not the summer home 

 of the great masses of migratory wildfowl. Neither Wild 

 Geese, Pintail, Wigeon, Golden-eye, Scaup, Long- tailed 

 Duck, Goosander, Merganser, or either of the Scoters have 

 ever bred here, and they never will. No doubt a few pairs 

 of Shovellers, Pochard, and Tufted Ducks nest with us more 

 or less regularly ; but their numbers are wholly insignificant. 

 What do they amount to ? Possibly a hundredth of one per 

 cent, on the aggregate numbers of their species. In the 

 north of Scotland and the outer islands, it is true, a good 

 many Grey-lag Geese, Wigeon, and Mergansers remain to 

 breed ; but their numbers, after all, are the veriest trifle, and 

 the whole Scottish supply a mere drop in the bucket. In the 

 south of Spain, I have seen more Grey-lags and Wigeon in 

 a single day than Scotland would produce in a score of years, 

 and as many Shovellers as would hatch there in a century. 



There have not been wanting, nevertheless, ornithologists 

 who have undertaken to show that nearly all sorts of wild- 

 fowl breed in the British Islands ; and they have succeeded, 

 too, after a fashion. Facts, however, remain unchanged 

 despite the desires of theorists and the sophistries of 

 those who are, perhaps unconsciously, too apt to bend to 

 the current of any poptdaris auj'ce, and it is upon such 

 slender bases that our wildfowl legislation rests. Such 

 arguments are hardly ingenuous, inducing beliefs that are 



