NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF LINLITHGOW LOCH. 107 



list of birds that I have given is imperfect. In working out even 

 the easier problems in natural history it is seldom that one has 

 not to leave much unfinished. Perhaps someone may complete 

 these records in the future. In fact, there are few things more 

 interesting to an ornithologist than the changes that have taken 

 place of recent years in the status of many of the British Ducks. 

 Several species that were quite rare a generation ago are now 

 amongst the commonest ; and I suspect that some species, such 

 as Mallard and Teal, are in many places rarer than they used 

 to be. It would be of substantial interest if a more or less 

 continuous record could be kept of the Ducks in some particular 

 place, such as Linlithgow Loch, which is not much affected by 

 changing local conditions. The numbers of the different Ducks 

 that I have given were ascertained as carefully as was reason- 

 ably possible. What will be the relative numbers of the different 

 species in, say, ten or twenty years ? Perhaps some person 

 who is permanently resident in the district might continue 

 these records. From the peculiar situation of the lake it could 

 be done without much difficulty. 



