BIRDS. 101 



WAIFS AND STRAYS that come to us accidentally at all periods 

 of the year. This, naturally enough, includes all the 

 rarest birds ; a few of them admitted to the British list 

 on the strength of only two or three occurrences. 

 Out of the 250 species enumerated in the following pages, 87 

 may be classed as residents, 34 as summer migrants, 17 birds 

 of passage, 40 winter migrants and 72 as waifs, or accidental 

 visitors. It is difficult in many cases to say, m which, 

 category a particular species ought to be place<J,*#rid & number 

 are here treated as waifs, which could o^fy 1?e ^o X^Hjecl %$. \ ' 

 Shropshire, as they are resident species 'in- other rjarts of 

 Britain. Many of the sea birds are classed thus, as, for 

 instance, the Razorbill, which is a common bird on our 

 coasts, but has only occurred once in the County of Salop. 

 On the other hand certain other sea birds, such as the 

 Kittiwake, occur so frequently that they have been included 

 here amongst the residents, and a few others that have only 

 occurred in Shropshire in winter, are placed amongst the 

 winter visitors. It will be understood therefore that the 

 list is quite arbitrary, and only intended to give an approxi- 

 mate estimate of the numbers in each class. Shropshire has 

 been fortunate in regard to the manner in which Birds have 

 been observed and recorded from the early part of the 

 century to the present time. The lists published by Eyton, 

 Rocke, and Beckwith, leave little to be desired in the way 

 of completeness, but the nesting and habits of our Birds, 

 particularly the commoner species, are so full of interest 

 that they provide an endless source of amusement and pro- 

 fitable study to the field-naturalist. In spite of the number 

 of books that have been written on the subject, there are 

 still many points in the economy of bird-life that require 

 elucidation. For instance, it is a matter of dispute whether 



