54 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 
undergrowth, has a larger avifauna than a beech-wood, 
with its dense canopy and absence of undergrowth. A 
woodland type with an exceptionally rich fauna is that 
of coppice-wood, such as we get in the Aberfoyle district 
of south Perthshire. The dominant tree is oak, which 
is stubbed at regular intervals, the result being a dense 
and secondary growth from the stump. Here and there 
a few oaks are left as standards, and there is, in addition, 
a sprinkling of birch and alder. Birds are remarkably 
abundant. Amongst the dominant species are Chaffinch, 
Willow-wren, Lesser Redpoll, while the Whitethroat, 
Garden-warbler, Tree-pipit, Redstart, and locally the Wood- 
wren, are all numerous. Comparing this type of wood with 
its nearest relative in the Lothians, such as a young 
deciduous plantation, the most marked features are the 
comparative scarcity of Song-thrush and Blackbird, and on 
the other hand, the great abundance of the Lesser Redpoll. 
The latter is more plentiful in the coppice-wood than I have 
found it elsewhere. In absolute density of population, this 
woodland type is perhaps not rivalled in Scotland. 
ASSOCIATIONS OF HILL-PASTURE. 
The kind of ground which I place under this heading 
is that of our more grassy hills outside the heather or 
Vaccinium area, such ground as we get in many parts of 
the Lowlands and Border country. The area is as a rule 
grazed by sheep, and has no doubt been thereby altered 
considerably from its primitive condition. The most 
widespread and dominant species generally, is the Skylark ; 
the Meadow-pipit being little less so. Other representative 
species are Wheatear, Lapwing, Curlew, Cuckoo; the last, 
from its anomalous breeding-habits, is parasitic and thus 
dependent for its place in the association upon other 
species, of which, in Scotland at least, the Meadow-pipit 
is that most affected. On the lower and wetty grounds, 
where /uucus and other rank vegetation appear, the 
Snipe and Redshank are present. Wherever gorse grows 
on the hill-sides to any considerable extent, the Linnet 
takes a place in the fauna. 
