/;/ I^on'sf and Copse. 151 



The price we pay to maintain this alien amongst our 

 avifauna is a high one; its presence is purchased at 

 the cost of countless numbers of indigenous birds 

 of greater and more effective beauty; its protection 

 is made an excuse for the incessant butchery of some 

 of our most interesting species. The introduction 

 of exotic species into any country is sure, sooner or 

 later, to affect some portion of the native fauna in 

 a disastrous way; and yet there are writers — deeni- 

 ing themselves naturalists — who urge the introduc- 

 tion of various gaudy exotic birds, as if our woods 

 and fields were not ornamented sufficiently by what 

 is normally there, and which surely have the right 

 to live — ^all Game Birds notwithstanding. We hear 

 of no crusade against Hawks, and Owls, and Crows, 

 and such like species in wild uncivilized countries, and 

 yet winged game is always abundant — at least until 

 man and his breech-loader comes upon the scene; and 

 we maintain that our indigenous Game Birds would 

 well hold their own if all vermin were left in peace, 

 and would be the healthier and stronger for it. The 

 alien Pheasant we are not quite so certain about; 

 but if not able to maintain itself against such enemies, 

 then these islands would be all the better without it. 

 More interesting to the naturalist in these woods 

 of the northern shires are the Woodpeckers. All 

 three British species are represented in them, but 

 the Green Woodpecker, the largest and showiest of 



