INTRODUCTORY. 7 



the quest of the whys and the wherefores which Nature is 

 often so reluctant to answer, discloses a prospect of en- 

 grossing research. As a homely example of how little such 

 reasons are understood, a lady was deploring to me a short 

 while ago that the stupid nightingales, which were in such 

 abundance just then round Christchurch, not more than 

 Nightingale nve miles distant, would not sing of an even- 

 in Hamp- ing within earshot of her house, a short way 

 shire. ou j. O f Bournemouth. I endeavoured to ex- 



plain that their preference for Christchurch, or, for that 

 matter, for Parkstone, equally close in the opposite direc- 

 tion, might lie in the presence of retreating waters and 

 muddy banks that possibly furnished them, in addition 

 to their staple caterpillars, with some kind of soft food, 

 whereas the Bournemouth valley, lying between, was, on 

 account of a deficiency in this respect, passed by. This 

 explanation contented the lady, who seemed quite recon- 

 ciled to the absence of nightingales as soon as she was 

 able to realise that it did not arise from mere lack of judg- 

 ment on their part. 1 A book that should do no more than 

 collect a number of such cases in the apparently capricious 

 distribution of some of our resident and visiting birds 

 would, I am convinced, command a large audience. 



Frankly, however, that is not among the objects of this 

 book, in which, as already set forth, the British Islands are 

 dealt with almost as one area. Adhere to this plan, how- 

 ever, as we will, it is impossible to ignore two interesting 

 pictures, a comparison and a contrast, that constantly recur 

 during our studies of British vertebrates, and these are the 

 strong resemblance between our fauna and that of neigh- 

 bouring Continental countries, and the still more remark- 

 able deficiencies in the Irish list. 



The former points unquestionably to the union, at no 



1 I think it right to mention that both Sir Herbert Maxwell and 

 Mr Harting take exception to my explanation of the distribution of 

 nightingales around Bournemouth, but I prefer letting the suggestion 

 stand, for want of a better. 



