58 



A RETROSPECT. 



By the Rev. Francis C. R. Jourdain, M.A., 

 Member of the British Ornithologists' Union. 



M 



BRIEF review of some of the changes that have 

 taken place of late years in the ornithology of the 

 County may not seem out of place at the begin- 

 ning of a new century. Derbyshire, like most 

 parts of the British Islands, is changing in many of 

 its external features, and the natural result is the 

 disappearance or diminution of many prominent species and 

 the increase of others. To a naturalist, the total disappearance 

 of any species is a thing to be deplored ; but, at the same 

 time, it is well to recognize the fact that in many cases it is 

 inevitable, as when the increase of cultivation necessitates 

 the destruction of feeding-grounds. An even more potent 

 factor is the ubiquitous gamekeeper, with gun in hand, ready 

 to shoot, on sight, any bird which shows the .slightest resem- 

 blance to a hawk or attracts attention by its rarity. Our 

 keepers are not at present, like the German Foresters, trained 

 to discriminate between the useful and noxious birds of prey, 

 and many a harmless Buzzard or Kestrel has paid with its 

 life for the misdeeds of a felonious cousin. Of late years, 

 some attempt has been made, by means of Wild Birds Pro- 

 tection Acts, to restrict the indiscriminate slaughter, but, as 

 a rule, I regret to say that the Act is practically a dead 



