120 SCIENTIFIC. SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 



in the north of the county which retain their primitive conditions, and where the 

 fauna has, in all probability, undergone relatively little change since its 

 establishment there. 



There is no question, however, that conditions on the whole have changed 

 considerably during the last few decades. The mosslands are slowly but surely 

 vanishing under the hand of the agriculturalist ; the sand-dunes, with their 

 interesting littoral fauna and flora, are fast disappearing before the operations 

 of the builder, the ubiquitous golfer and the foreshore improvements by the 

 various watering-places ; modern farming cuts everything clean and close, 

 and the old-fashioned stubble, with its ample covert, no longer exists ; roads 

 and pathways are altered ; hedges are trimmed in such a fashion as to afford 

 little or no shelter for nesting birds ; while poultry, so extensively farmed 

 to-day, are not only the means of carrying disease to what were hitherto clean 

 and healthy fields, but they are often turned on to the stubbles after harvest 

 to glean the food which was formerly the fare of the Partridge and other 

 granivorous species. 



Although these factors have told adversely on certain sections of the feathered 

 community, notably on some of the smaller passerine species, individuals of 

 other species have increased considerably and are more firmly established 

 than ever, so it is probably no over-drawn statement to say that to-day the 

 bird population, as a whole, is, numerically, little affected by the so-called march 

 of civilization. Moreover, the gradual decline of game preserving in some 

 localities has happily led to an increase of raptorial and other harassed species 

 usually figuring on the gamekeeper's gibbet; while bird-watching — as opposed 

 to bird collecting — which is growing in popularity, is having, in conjunction 

 with protective legislation, a beneficial effect on the avifauna in general and on 

 the rarer members of it in particular. 



In considering the district as defined for the purposes of this article and its 

 relation to the distribution of its fauna, it may be conveniently divided into 

 three main divisions. 



The western division, known as the Fylde, lying between the Ribble and 

 Lune, and penetrated mid-way by the Wyre, is broad and flat, with slight 

 undulations here and there, but entirely lacking hills of any altitude. This 

 area is in a high state of cultivation, and is diversified throughout by an abun- 

 dance of hedges, shrubberies, orchards and belts of woodland which form the 

 haunt of numerous finches, warblers and other small birds. The sadly-reduced 

 mosslands are mainly confined to the Pilling, Cockerham and Winmarleigh 

 districts, in one of which the Short-eared Owl, Nightjar and other species 

 still find a nesting sanctuary. 1913 saw the last of the large Black-headed 

 gullery which had been established at Cockerham Moss since 1876, the birds 

 having been driven out by the activities of the Fylde Peat Moss Litter Company. 

 A feature of the landscape, likely to attract the attention of the stranger to 

 these parts, is the stunted and desiccated appearance of the trees, a peculiarity 

 caused by the prevailing winds and noticeable almost as far inland as Garstang. 



The eastern division consists of elevated barren moorlands with deep-wooded 

 glens, bordered below by upland pastures and the low land fringing the rivers. 

 Here nest the Ring Ousel, Twite, Merlin, Curlew and Golden Plover ; while 

 some idea of the number of Red Grouse which these moors support, may be 



