Proceedings, 51 



satisfaction than any amount of time spent in mere pleasure 

 or recreation. If I have been able to present one branch of 

 the study of Natural History in a favourable light, my labour 

 has been well rewarded." 



Mr. H. M. Wallis, of Beading, then read a paper on 

 ' Character, as one of the Causes of the Earity or Abundance 

 of Different Species of Birds,' as follows : — 



Among the many problems which Natural History suggests 

 is one which in different ways is constantly recurring — Why 

 is one species common, and another, closely allied to it, rare? 



To reply that one is more perfectly in accord with its 

 environment than the other is unquestionably true ; but 

 brings us no nearer to the cause, since it is in most cases 

 impossible to see, and difficult to suggest, the circumstances 

 which favour one species at the expense of another. Why, 

 for instance, should the Blue Tit be more abundant than the 

 Cole and the Marsh Tit, allied species, which in size, shape, 

 habits, nest, egg, and note closely resemble it, and yet are 

 less successful ? Let us devote a few minutes to considering 

 this subject, so far as relates to our British bu-ds. 



Birds in these islands have rather a hard time of it, many 

 causes having combined to thin the lists of our native species ; 

 but on comparing the list of those which are gone or going 

 with those which hold their ground we shall frequently see 

 that those species which appear upon the face of things best 

 able to preserve themselves have suffered most, whilst others 

 obviously hold their own which from feeble power of flight 

 or defence would appear marked out for extinction. 



No doubt the causes to which the extinction of a species is 

 usually set down are of great weight, but I question whether 

 sufficient importance is allowed to the action of what perhaps 

 I may call the mental character of the species in question. 

 That each species has a hereditary mental character, who can 

 doubt who has contrasted the calculated boldness of the Eook 

 with the overdone caution of the Crow ; or the lighthearted 

 optimism of the Whitethroat with the nervous depression of 

 the Grasshopper Warbler, which never feels itself at liberty 

 to sing in the open, unless a white mist hangs over the fields ? 



