EXTERMINA TION 227 



preservers, and this to their own cost, as the ravages of the 

 Grouse-disease testify.^ To the reclaiming of waste lands, the 

 enclosure of open spaces, and the greater care bestowed on timber 

 trees (by removing those that being decayed are much infested 

 with insects) must, however, be attributed the extermination or 

 rarification of far more species than the direct action of man has 

 been able to effect.^ Still what we lose in one direction we gain 

 in another, and while Birds -of -Prey and Wild -fowl are being 

 banished, the smaller denizens of the woodlands, gardens, and 

 arable fields are unquestionably more numerous than ever.^ The 

 change is, of coiu-se, not satisfactory to the naturalist or to the 

 lover of wild scenery, but to some extent it seems inevitable ; yet 

 well-directed laws for the protection of those birds which suffer 

 worst in the unequal contest may delay their impending fate, and 

 preserve to our posterity the most pleasing features of many a 

 landscape and the grateful opportunities of studying many a 

 curious and interesting species. Thanks, perhaps, to the sti-onger 

 constitution of most Palsearctic birds, the votaries of "acclimatiza- 

 tion " have obtained little success in these islands, for the exotic 

 species which it has been attempting to introduce have, almost 

 without exception, failed to establish themselves. The efibrts 

 made in some British colonies^ — especially in Australasia, apart 

 from the sinfulness already mentioned in regard to the Eabbit- 

 plague — are unfortunately too likely not to be successful ; and, 

 when their own peculiar Fauna has been half extirpated, our fellow- 

 subjects at the Antipodes will probably have good reason to lament 



and even of the Thames. From the same writer {Hist. Nat. Oyseaux, p. 131) it 

 would seem that at that time (1555) they, and Ravens also, were protected by- 

 law in the City ! The Hen-Harrier's name is enough to shew what was thought 

 of it in days when it abounded. 



^ In Transbaikalia, the Bearded Vulture, Gypaetus barlatus, which was 

 formerly common, has of late been completely exterminated, through persecution 

 prompted by the desire to obtain its feathers, which are highly valued. — Von 

 Aliddendorff, Sibir. Eeise, iv. p. 851. 



^ The extermination from Europe of the Fkancolin, FrancoUnus vulgaris, has 

 been treated at some length by Lord Lilford (Ibis, 1862, p. 352) without his 

 being able to assign any cause for the fact. 



^ Report from the Select Committee on Wild Birds'' Protection, d;c. (House of 

 Commons), 1873. Appendix, pp. 188-193. 



* Unintentionally, it would seem, a carnivorous Marsupial has been in- 

 troduced into the island of Dominica and there appears to have extirpated one of 

 the Petrels which formerly bred numerously in the mountains, where it was 

 called the " Diablotin "' aud is known to have been (Estrclata haesitata [cf. 

 Feilden, Trans. Norf. Norw. Nat. Soc. v. pp. 24-39). The intentional intro- 

 duction of the Mongoose is said to be likely to effect the destruction there of 

 the allied species (£". jamaicensis. It has already greatly diminished the 

 numbers of "John-Crow" Vultures, by the destruction of their eggs or young, 

 for the nests are placed on the ground. 



