Lost British Birds. 



29 



and insignificant the forms may be, the game -preserver's 

 action may be regarded as on the whole more beneficial 

 than harmful. To all others this accidental benefit will not 

 appear a thinp- to be grateful for, but, on the contrary, a 

 very poor exchange. When the trees have shed their 

 foliage we are best able to take stock of our remaining 



H EN 



resident land species ; and, excepting only the comparatively 

 large omnipresent rook and wood-pigeon, and the couple of 

 artificially-protected and semi-domestic game birds, what 

 species do we find in the cultivated and preserved country ? 

 The cloud of sparrows in the rickyard ; the congregations of 

 larks and starlings in the fields and meadows ; the swarm of 

 mixed finches in the stubbles and along the hedge -rows ; 

 blackbirds and thrushes in the woods and copses ; and, over- 



