230 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



which was threatened with extinction owing to the regard- 

 less enthusiasm of collectors. 



There can be no doubt that the numbers of many of our 

 interesting birds have increased greatly during the past 

 thirty years mainly owing to the protection afforded them. 

 Year after year the reports on Scottish bird life in the 

 Annals of Scottish Natural History and its successor The 

 Scottish Naturalist, tell of increasing numbers and of ex- 

 tensions of range, and to these I would refer the reader, 

 contenting myself here with a few typical examples, mainly 

 extracted from the pages of that magazine. Rare birds like 

 the Red-necked Phalarope (P/ialaropus lobatiis] "seem to be 

 increasing every season" ; the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps 

 cristatus} "has been increasing of late years as a breeding 

 bird in Scotland," and since its first recorded appearance 

 about 1877 has extended its range to the faunal areas of 

 Sol way, Tweed, forth, Clyde, Tay and Moray; the Scottish 

 Crested Tit (Parus cristatus scoticus] (Fig. 47) a bird 

 exclusively Scottish has colonized many new areas in 

 Moray, Nairn, Inverness and Ross during the last ten years, 

 despite the persecutions of collectors; and the Hawfinch 

 (Coccothraustes coccothraustes] has continued its general 

 extension in Scotland, in spite of the ill-will of growers of 

 peas. Birds of fine plumage, like the Goldfinch, the Jay and 

 the Kingfisher are steadily increasing in numbers notwith- 

 standing the attentions of birdcatchers, gamekeepers, and 

 preservers of fisheries. Song-birds, such as Linnets, Sedge 

 Warblers, .Wood Warblers, Thrushes and Blackbirds are 

 multiplying in several or many areas. And of birds of 

 general interest, the Golden Eagle, the Raven, the Magpie, 

 the Gannet and the Fulmar Petrel are a few which have 

 increased and have settled in new breeding grounds. 



In many cases, it is interesting to note, these benefits 

 have accrued to the naturalist and to the people in general, 

 in face of the vested interests of sport: the Golden Eagle 

 multiplies in spite of the toll it levies upon grouse and 

 ptarmigan; the Kingfisher in spite of its depredations on 

 young trout. And this is due in part to a new sense of 

 aesthetic value which has led landowners and owners of 

 fisheries to balance against the game bag and the basket 

 of trout, the beauties of undisturbed nature. 



