Introductory. 11 



fifty, yards distance, needs sharp eyes for its identifi- 

 cation ; and as the rarer sorts are usually the more shy, 

 and keep farther off, all the more difficult is this, and, 

 as a consequence, determining the locale of such species. 



THE LOCAL DISTRIBUTION OP BIRDS. 



That certain species are found in particular localities 

 I may say, spots while absent from others near by, is a 

 fact well known and seemingly singular. The reason, 

 however, is obvious : the conditions of the places are not 

 the same, though apparently they may be so. In one 

 there is some sort of food seed, berry, root, or insect 

 which is wanting in the other; and, as almost every 

 species of bird has a predilection for some special diet, 

 where this exists not neither will the bird. 



But food seems not the only attraction which deter- 

 mines the dwelling-place of birds. Some affect the 

 woodland shade, while others prefer the open ; and still 

 others frequent spots of an intermediate character, neither 

 thickly overgrown with trees, nor yet altogether treeless. 

 Dryness, moistness, and water stagnant or running- 

 are also influencing factors ; and so too the configuration 

 of the ground, whether it be hilly or level, the altitude 

 of the hills, and the exposure of their slopes in relation 

 to the points of the compass. Certainly food is not the 

 only thing which influences birds in their choice of habi- 

 tat, as we have evidence in the preference shown by the 

 common house-sparrow. A pair, or at most two pairs, 

 of these noisy chatterers haunt around my house, and 

 breed by it; while at every farmstead in the neighbour- 

 hood a large flock may be seen at all times, both in sum- 

 mer and winter. Yet there is a farmyard attached to my 



