PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 13 



ing season, may be supposed, when we consider 

 the wide tracts of uninhabited country between 

 Falsterbo Reef and the North Cape, abounding in 

 suitable localities for the wilder, and to the British 

 fauna rarer, species of birds, whose shy and re- 

 tired habits lead them to seek securer and more 

 secluded breeding haunts than any part of Great 

 Britain can afford. We find, therefore, that out 

 of the 357 species included in the British fauna, 

 not one-half are known to breed in that country ; 

 whereas, out of about 300 Scandinavian species, 

 about 230 breed in the north. 



With regard to the Danish fauna, it may be 

 regarded as intermediate — between that of Great 

 Britain and Scandinavia ; but comparatively fewer 

 birds breed there than in either of the above- 

 named lands. In climate and general appearance 

 the country much resembles the British isles ; and 

 I thought I never gazed upon a quieter, richer, 

 or lovelier landscape, than when passing through 

 the Belts a few summers ago. The country is 

 well adapted to the habits of the southern warblers, 

 and many of the common waders and water fowl, 

 and lying in a direct line, as it were, between 

 England and Sweden, it is more frequently visited 

 by the rarer northern birds than the former 

 country. The south of Denmark is highly culti- 

 vated, and the whole land has a far more pastoral 



