16 The Vertebrates of Sol way. 



of sport has gone on increasing. A more discriminating method 

 of keeping down the enemies of game is now in the ascendant,, 

 under which Buzzards, Kestrels, Owls, and others ought to re- 

 ceive the total exemption from ruthless slaughter to which they 

 are entitled. From the naturalist's point of view there was a 

 compensating advantage in even the merciless old system of game 

 preserving. Jt resulted in a maximum stock of small birds, which 

 in their haunts on the mosses, woods, and coverts enjoyed almost 

 complete innnunity from raptorial birds, and an undisturbed quiet 

 during the nesting- season. 



I am bound to note the agreeable fact that public opinion 

 favours the preservation of all the members of our fauna, and 

 does not regard the Acts passed in recent yeai's for the protection 

 of birds, their eggs, and young, as in any way irksome. The 

 healthy opinion prevails that the enactment in question to main- 

 tain the feathered tribes is one to l)e respected not only by all 

 lovers of wild life, but by the community as a whole. 



" Introductions " have not been without considerable mark. 

 The Rabbit, the Var^'ing Hare, the Pheasant, and the Grayling are 

 introduced species, and it is perhaps quite unnecessary to observe 

 that all of them are here to stay. 



Probably some of the changes noted, such as the lessening- 

 numbers of the Martin and the Barn Owl. the arrival of the Pied 

 Flycatcher and the Stock Dove, as well as the change involved 

 in the abundance in which the Tufted Duck now remains in 

 summer, may be attributed to some slow and obscure alteration 

 in climate. No evidence, however, can be adduced from meteor- 

 ological rec(.)rds that any such change is in progress. 



I ought to mention the changes that have taken place in 

 regard to the principal vertebrate of all — man himself. A wonder- 

 ful change has taken place in Solway and elsewhere within the 

 century. Go where you will you will see roofless and ruined 

 cottages dotted over the country. In some villages half the 

 houses are roofless and ruined ; and the groups of Ashtrees or a 

 few llowans — perhaps the free growth of a bed of nettles, or the 

 greener verdure of a grass mound — sufficiently attest to the 

 observer the sites of homasLeads that have otherwise completely 

 disappeared. Some may look on such a change as merely one of 

 social economy. Whatever may be the deeper reason, the one 

 on the surface is easily seen. The people have left and are 



