THE FAUNISTIC POSITION OF SPECIES. xlv 



haunts ; some may, however, occasionally remain during the 

 summer, and some may breed in isolated instances in the 

 county. 



Passing or Transient Visitors are species having a double 

 migration, and which are usually observed in the county 

 only on their annual passage to and from their breeding- 

 places in spring or autumn, or both. Exceptionally some may 

 remain with us during the winter. 



Casual Visitors are species whose appearance in the county is 

 uncertain, but whose occurrence — they being resident in, or 

 more or less regular visitors to, other parts of the British 

 Islands — is not improbable, even though their visits may 

 be very few and far between. Some of them may have once 

 been Residents, and may still occasionally remain to breed. 



Accidental Visitors are mere w^aifs and strays — species whose 

 geographical range or habits render their occurrence in 

 Britain quite exceptional, and more or less remarkable. 



Introduced or Naturalized Species are semi-domesticated, but 

 occur in a state of nature and breed. 



Following the excellent plan of the ' Handbook of Yorkshire 

 Vertebrata,^ by Messrs. W. Eagle Clarke and W. Denison Roe- 

 buck, in comparing the avifaunas of neighbouring counties, 

 we have made a careful analysis of the avifauna of the 

 four south-western or peninsular counties of England, and the 

 results are shown in the subjoined table. For Cornwall we have 

 taken as our text-book Rodd's ^ Birds of Cornwall,^ edited by 

 Mr. J. E. Harting; for Dorset, Mansel-Pleydell's 'Birds of Dorset;' 

 and for Somerset, Cecil Smith's 'Birds of Somerset;' adding to 

 them, however, such species as have been obtained in those 

 counties since the publication of the above-named works, amount- 

 ing to no less than 32 for Somerset, 7 for Cornwall, and 2 for 

 Dorset. As twenty-one species have occurred in Cornwall wliich 

 liave not yet been recorded from Devonshire, and three in Somerset 

 that have not been obtained in either of those counties, the total 

 number of birds occurring in the South-western Peninsula will be 

 found to amount to 31G, exclusive of doubtful species. Yorkshire 

 boasts of 307 species, and Norfolk 290. 



