THE BIRDS OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



By A. H. EVANS, M.A., F.Z.S., Clare College. 



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I. INTRODUCTORY. 



CAMBRIDGE and the districts in the vicinity have always 

 been of the greatest interest to ornithologists, owing to the 

 proximity of the Fen country, of old the haunt of many 

 species of Birds which were to be found breeding in few other 

 parts of Britain. The Marsh-Harrier, the Bittern, the Great 

 Bustard, the Ruff and his consort the R.eeve, the Black- tailed 

 Godwit, and the Black Tern will doubtless first present them- 

 selves to the mind of the reader, as having either entirely or 

 almost entirely ceased to rear their young in the kingdom ; 

 but even more remarkable is the case of Savi's Warbler, which 

 was only recognized as a regular summer visitor to the Eastern 

 Counties early in the last century, and disappeared finally 

 from the country in 1856. Bones of Pelican 1 , Swan and Wild 

 Goose have been found in the peat in company with those 

 of commoner species, but with nothing to indicate the exact 

 period to which they belong. 



Owing, however, to the gradual drainage of the Fens and 



1 The first bone of a Pelican recognized in this county and country 

 was the humerus of a bird so young as not to have the epiphyses attached, 

 so that the inference of its having been bred in the district is almost 

 certain. The species is no doubt Pelecanus crispus, as its large size 

 shows, and other bones of the same species have been found at almost 

 precisely the same place, the evidence being to the effect that they belonged 

 to at least three individuals. 



