20 INTRODUCTION. 



bred. At present, some species are very local in 

 their haunts, as the nightingale, woodlark, recl- 

 poles, &c. ; others, whether constant inhabitants 

 or annual visitors, are very generally diffused 

 throughout the island. The spreading of a spe- 

 cies, perhaps, was occasioned by the birds getting 

 too numerous for the districts they frequented, 

 and the young were compelled, by older and 

 stronger birds, to seek out haunts for themselves. 

 Several instances might be given, to show, that 

 birds are now found in places in this island which 

 they formerly did not frequent; — ^but we shall 

 merely mention one regarding the blackbird. 



This bird, though now a very common songster 

 in almost every part of Britain, was not so sixty 

 years ago ; for, in some counties in the north of 

 Scotland, at that period both it and the thrush 

 were unknown. As this is a curious circum- 

 stance in the history of birds, we shall mention a 

 fact concerning the first appearance of the black- 

 bird in Aberdeenshire. About the year 1760, the 

 proprietor of a beautiful property on the river 

 Dee, (who had spent many years of his life in 

 England,) often remarked that his woods and 

 shrubberies were only vocal with the notes of 

 some of the smaller song-birds, and regretted that 



