PREFACE 



Rock Thrush breeds in the same ridges ; the Long-tailed 

 Tit has its nest there ; near the ground in the 

 woods, are the breeding-places of the familiar Coal-Tit; 

 where fir-trees abound it is at home. The less welcome 

 Red-backed Shrike pursues his cruel little methods here, 

 lessening the numbers of more useful and more attractive 

 birds. Waterfalls abound, and among the brooks, from 

 stone to stone, trips the merry Dipper, showing his 

 pretty breast and red underparts building his large 

 house near the running water, in whose pools fine trout 

 are in plenty. 



We have rested together in a little cove on the lake at 

 Hamar, which is overhung by luxuriant foliage; across 

 the water, over the dense woods, floats a solitary Eagle 

 that seeks his quarry in the shades below. Otto Herman 

 knew his breeding-place as a boy. Tradition says the 

 nest is at least a hundred years old, yet each year the 

 young are still fed there. 



That Great Britain has still much to do in the direction 

 of Bird Protection is definitely shown in a leaflet just 

 issued (December, 1908) by the Royal Society for the 

 Protection of Birds, of whose Council I have the 

 honour to be a member. Of the 370 or 380 species 

 placed on the list of " British birds," scarcely 200 can 

 now be justly termed British. I may be allowed to give 

 you here some idea of the principal agents in this 

 destruction of birds as set forth by our Society : 



* First, there are those who destroy for destruction's 

 sake ; the boy who ravages the hedgerows in spring and 

 delights in catapults, air-guns, and stones at all times; 

 the lout with a gun ; and the cockney sportsman. They 

 are responsible for a vast amount of cruelty, especially 



