BIRDS 



Northamptonshire must have been a most interesting field for an 

 ornithologist early in the nineteenth century. Just outside its north- 

 eastern border lay Whittlesea Mere, the haunt of many rare birds, in- 

 cluding the bittern, spotted crake, rufF and avocet, and others, which 

 used to wander thence up the Nene Valley. There were many wild, 

 unenclosed upland commons — still called ' heaths ' or ' wolds ' — where 

 the great bustard used at times to wander, and many interesting open- 

 ground birds occurred, especially at the spring and autumn migration 

 periods. There were large tracts remaining of what had been primeval 

 forest, of which Salcey Forest, Whittlebury Forest, Rockingham Forest, 

 the Bedford Purlieus, and Castor Hanglands, and a few more, still remain 

 as reduced survivals. In these the kite, buzzard, and raven used to 

 breed, and the hen-harrier to be found with other forest-loving species. 

 And an ornithologist in those days — there were not many then — was free 

 to pursue his investigations when and where he chose. Since then the 

 spread of agriculture (especially in the years following the Napoleonic 

 and Crimean wars, with their consequent high profits on corn growing) 

 has brought much of the forest, fen, and common land under the plough, 

 and the old haunts of many of the rarer birds are now unvisited by them, 

 or, if they occur, it is as rare stragglers from over the sea. However 

 much we may regret this as naturalists, we cannot find fault, for 

 naturalists, after all, are specimens of ordinary humanity, plus their 

 special tastes and studies, and the bulk of their individuality cannot help 

 seeing that all this is necessary, and even desirable in the interests of the 

 country. But would that the 'Yellowstone Park' idea had only occurred 

 to Englishmen sixty years ago ! It is a far-sighted and really patriotic 

 idea, and might have preserved to us restricted areas of immense scientific 

 interest. We are now slowly awakening to it, now that it is all but too 

 late, and, as in the case of Wicken Fen, are preserving the few relics of 

 primeval England for posterity. 



There appears to be an opinion — rather a widespread one — in our 

 county, that, since the publication of the late Lord Lilford's Birds of 

 Northamptonshire and Neighbourhood, little or nothing remains to be done 

 in the way of ornithological research within our boundaries. But any 

 one reading the preface and opening paragraphs of that excellent work 

 will find that the author held a strong view to the contrary. The fact 

 is, that the work which has fallen into the hands of us of to-day is one 

 of a totally different character — less striking, perhaps less interesting, 



III 



