BRITISH VERTEBRATES. 43 



contains a fine group of Gannets and other sea-birds from the 

 Bass Eock in the Firth of Forth. On the opposite side are two 

 important groups with the surroundings true to nature, the one 

 of the Golden Eagle and the other of the Buzzard, both 

 taken in Scotland. Other groups in the pavilion display the 

 Kestrel, the Peregrine Falcon, and the Merlin in their natural 

 surroundings. Among the Mammals, especial attention may be 

 directed to a case of British Hares and Eabbits. In another 

 case may be seen a female Badger and her young ; while in a 

 third are a group of Otters, in a fourth a Mole- hill with its 

 inhabitants ; in a fifth a pair of Martens, in a sixth Polecats, 

 Stoats, and Weasels, in a seventh Hedgehogs, Sc[uirrels in 

 another, and so on. 



Here it may be mentioned that the animal inhabitants of any 

 country or district are collectively termed its "fauna." The 

 British Islands in this respect belong to the great zoo-geographi- 

 cal region called Palsearctic, or Eastern Holarctic, embracing all 

 Europe, the north of Africa, and the western and northern 

 portions of Asia. As in the case of all islands, the species 

 belonging to groups whose powers of locomotion are limited to 

 the land or fresh-water, are not numerous compared with those 

 inhabiting large continental tracts. Their numbers can only 

 increase under exceptional circumstances, and have a tendency 

 to diminish, as the growth of human population and increase 

 of the area of cultivated land gradually reduce their 

 native haunts. In this way, the Brown Bear, the Wolf, the 

 Beaver, and the Wild Boar have disappeared from Britain 

 within the historic period, while others, as the Badger, Marten, 

 and Wild-Cat, with difficulty maintain a more or less precarious 

 existence. These have all been originally derived from the main- 

 land of Europe, probably before the formation of the channel 

 which separated Great Britain. The wider and older channel 

 which separates Ireland from Great Britain has been a 

 greater barrier to the emigration of animal life than that 

 between the latter and the Continent, many species (as the 

 Polecat, Wild-Cat, Mole, Squirrel, Dormouse, Harvest-Mouse, 

 Water-Eat, Short-tailed Field-Mouse, Common Hare, Eoedeer, 

 as well as Snakes and Toads) never having crossed, unless 

 by human agency. 



