X INTRODUCTION. 



can only be attributable to deflections by storms or 

 adverse Avinds, which may account for the appear- 

 ance of the Little Bustard, Common Crane, Cream- 

 coloured Courser, Collared Pratincole, Glossy Ibis, 

 Shore Lark, &c. Several birds, whose visits now 

 are only few and far between, were formerly of more 

 frequent occurrence, and some were even residents, 

 such as the Great Bustard, Bittern, Common Crane, 

 and Avocet. The Kite bred in Radnorshire as late 

 as 1870. This might be attributable to a depletion 

 of the species through various causes, such as altered 

 conditions of country, drainage, clearance of wood- 

 lands, or even a multiplication of plantations and 

 enclosures, which has probably caused the disappear- 

 ance of the Great Bustard from our downs, which 

 at one time were its favourite haunts. 



Some birds have entirely disappeared from the face 

 of the earth within the memory of man, or at least 

 within historic times ; notably the Garefowl or Great 

 Auk {Alca impennis), which has become extinct since 

 1844, is the latest instance known of the extinction 

 of a bird. Li 1574 it was very plentiful on the east 

 coast of Greenland. It lived in Scotland during the 

 Pleistocene Age ; its bones occur frequently in the 

 kitchen-middens of Caithness, with those of the 

 Wild Swan, Black Grouse, Seal, Walrus, and Beaver. 

 The fortunate recognition of its egg in the hall of Mr. 

 Philip Hill, of Pimperne, by the Rev. S. A. Walker, 

 Rector of Spettisbury, rescued it from oblivion, the 

 owner being unaware of its rarity and value, who, 

 under Mr. Walker's advice, took it to the British 



