1903 Rutland Birds 39 



bring together sufficient material to pronounce positively 

 what are and what are not variable points in the creature's 

 structure, and woe betide him if he should describe as new 

 to science anything already known under some designation 

 which has through ignorance or carelessness escaped his 

 notice. Nevertheless there is great pleasure in noting how 

 marvellously is their structure suited to their needs : edible 

 kinds mimic noxious substances, voracious ones are fleet to 

 capture prey, adipose exoskeletons are protected by shells, 

 the harmless proboscis develops into formidable mandibles, 

 and useless members gradually become obsolete as in the 

 case of deep-sea fishes' eyes and the occipital one which 

 Dr Dendy has recently discovered in the New Zealand Tua- 

 tera and lamprey. The collector is the Jack-of-all-trades 

 with an intimate knowledge of none ; the systematist knowing 

 the life in a tuft of grass marvels at the millions of animal- 

 cules which people the world. 



Rutland Birds : Are they increasing or 

 decreasing ? 



By Reginald Haines, M.A., M.B.O.U. 



Only when the complete set of Victorian County Histories 

 has come out shall we be able to form a map of the fauna of 

 England, and perhaps take a census of all our wild animals 

 and birds. In the meanwhile it will be instructive to sum 

 up such results as it has been possible to obtain in the case 

 of one county at least, albeit a very Zoar among counties. 



Rutland is very much the smallest of the English counties 

 proper. Its natural features present nothing striking, nor 

 do they show any great diversity. Out of nearly 98,000 

 acres, which represent its area, not 100 are waste or heath 

 land, and not 200 are water. There are no fenny districts, 

 and no really large sheets of water. There are scarcely 

 4000 acres of woodland, and even the hedgerow trees have 

 been much thinned of late years. Thirteen or fourteen 



