NOTES AND QUERIES. 269 



hill, and a few days afterwards a pair were noticed at a considerable 

 distance from the spot, near which only Cushats had been seen. 

 Meanwhile the birds were left in their hole, in the hope that the 

 developing feathers would soon establish their specific identity. Un- 

 fortunately before a week elapsed they had disappeared. Since the 

 foregoing date, however, a pair of Bock-Pigeons were again seen 

 (June 24th) near Rabbits' holes in a different part of the hill. The 

 nesting of the Rock-Dove in Rabbits' holes seems to be rare, though 

 their habits in the caves of the Outer Hebrides would seem to show 

 considerable power of adaptation to circumstances. It is known that 

 other land-birds, such as Jackdaws, make use of Rabbits' holes for 

 nesting. Thus Jackdaws not only do so on the cliffs at Craighall, 

 Perthshire, but have been observed to seize the very young and frolic- 

 some Rabbits and drop them over the precipice. The privacy of 

 the slope at Nevay, and the absence of rocky ledges, probably led the 

 birds to select such a site, just as in former years the quietude of a 

 country house at Murthly enticed the Kestrels to make their nest and 

 rear their young in a box (which the Swifts usually regarded as their 

 own) originally placed under the eaves for Starlings.* — W. C. McIntosh 

 (The University, St. Andrews). 



Effects of Rural Depopulation on Wild Life. — For the last year or 

 two I have been taking rambles about the country-side, which men are 

 abandoning more and more every day for overcrowded towns. I am 

 struck with the great change this rural depopulation is making on the 

 fauna of country districts. I have been making out lists of observed 

 species in the locality where I happened to be from my boyhood up- 

 wards, and it is most interesting to me to compare these old lists with 

 those I am daily adding to now. As I was saying, I am noticing 

 decided changes. Not only is wild life more plentiful, but it is now 

 really wild life, and not so much of that semi-domesticated type which 

 is seen in the avian hangers-on to human society who love to haunt 

 rural gardens, farmyards, corn-fields, and village lanes. In this con- 

 nection I would like to say something about the reprehensible manner 

 of making up local faunas and lists of species by lumping together all 

 records of occurrences within half a century and more. The value of 

 these local faunas would, in my opinion, be greatly increased were a 

 comparison made between lists of thirty years ago and such as can be 

 made out at the present time. This is especially true in these days 

 when rural depopulation and land going out of cultivation by the 

 thousand acres is making a comparison between the past and present 



* ' Scottish Naturalist,' vol. iv. p. 46 (1877). 



