DISTRIBUTION DURING THE WINTER. 63 



the coast contain only the usual number that so- 

 journ with us during the breeding season ; and on 

 the whole the species appears to be but moderately 

 distributed throughout this county until the arri- 

 val of new migratory parties from the north during 

 the following autumn.* 



* It has been my anxious wish to exclude as much as 

 possible from these pages all matters of a controversial na- 

 ture, and I have cautiously abstained from entering into 

 the subject of migration, as a " quastio vexata" which 

 would appear to have baffled or puzzled so many great 

 zoologists. " Who shall decide when doctors disagree ?" 

 Still, one's views and opinions will, however carefully kept 

 in check, occasionally ooze out, as it were, in spite of one's 

 self. Even so I find that I have been unconsciously at- 

 tempting to account for the migration of the kestrel. 

 Should these remarks ever meet the- eye of the distin- 

 guished author whom I have just quoted, and whose inte- 

 resting and truthful descriptions must endear him to every 

 lover of Nature, I hope he will not think that I am ambi- 

 tious of running a tilt with him in a field where he has 

 already gathered so many laurels. 



