PREFACE. XI 



tions of man. I have remarked this particularly at one locality 

 near Belfast, situated 500 feet above the sea, and backed by hills 

 rising to 800 feet. Marshy ground, the abode of little else than 

 the snipe, became drained, and that species was consequently ex- 

 pelled. As cultivation advanced, the numerous species of small 

 birds attendant on it, became visitors, and plantations soon made 

 them inhabitants of the place. The land-rail soon haunted the 

 meadows j the quail and the partridge, the fields of grain. A pond, 

 covering less than an acre of ground, tempted annually for the 

 first few years, a pair of the graceful and handsome sandpipers 

 {Totanus hypoleticoi), which, with their brood, appeared at the 

 end of July or beginning of August, on their way to the sea- 

 side from their breeding haunt. Tins was in a moor about a 

 mile distant, where a pair annually bred until driven away by 

 drainage rendering it unsuitable. The pond was supplied by 

 streams descending from the mountains through wild and rocky 

 glens, the favourite haunt of the water-ouzel, which visited its 

 margin daily throughout the year. When the willows planted 

 at the water's edge had attained a goodly size, the splendid king- 

 fisher occasionally visited it during autumn. Rarely do the water- 

 ouzel and kingfisher meet " to drink at the same pool/' but here 

 they did so. So soon as there was sufficient cover for the water- 

 hen (Gallimila chloropus) it, an unbidden but most welcome 

 guest, appeared and took up its permanent abode; a number 

 of them frequently joining the poultry in the farm-yard at their 

 repast. The heron, as if conscious that his deeds rendered him 

 unwelcome, stealthily raised his " blue bulk " aloft, and fled at 

 our approach. The innocent and attractive wagtails, both pied 

 and grey, were of course always to be seen about the pond. A 

 couple of wild-ducks, and two or three teal, occasionally at diffe- 

 rent seasons, became visitants ; and once, early in October, a tufted 



