INTRODUCTION. 75 



articles of luxury. The capercalzie has long dis- 

 appeared from our northern forests ; and we fear 

 that a less noble, but more interesting bird, from 

 its restricted locality, is fast following. The Bird 

 of Britain, confined in its range exclusively within 

 the boundaries of our islands, is decreasing fear- 

 fully and rapidly. Fifty years hence, another 

 generation may have to travel far before he can 

 see the redgrouse, the moor-fowl of our northern 

 hills, if the indiscriminate slaughter continues as 

 it now prevails. The ptarmigan has also dimi- 

 nished in numbers, but its high and rocky almost 

 inaccessible haunts, will always be, to a certain 

 extent, a safeguard and protection against unli- 

 mited destruction. The bustard is another loss 

 which cannot be replaced ; the extensive com- 

 mons, the wastes or plains of the south, have lost 

 their solitariness, and with it, in the judgment of 

 the ornithologist, their greatest ornament ; while 

 among the Grallatorial birds, the crane and the 

 stork are now only heard of as stragglers from 

 their wonted courses. But it may be asked, 

 Have no species been introduced, have none 

 become more numerous, so as to balance or 

 replace these blanks in our Fauna ? There are a 

 few. The black-grouse has multiplied exceed- 

 ingly, delighting, as it were, in the protection of 

 man and in the reclaimed lands adjacent to the 

 wilder tracts ; the red-legged partridge has been 



