Xlii 



DESCRIPTIVE CHAPTERS. 



condition of things, which even I can remember, is once i6ore in 

 progress.^ 



In December 1886 Mr. Evans witnessed vast congregations of 

 AVild-fowl, and estimated the numbers rising from the shoals and 

 mud-flats of the Eden, and going off to sea when disturbed, at from 

 800 to 1000 birds, including many Mallards, Goldeneyes, Scaup 

 (about 30), one or two Pintails, a Merganser, 50 to 60 Shelducks, 

 and one Goosander. Such sights are still common both upon these 

 shores — in severe winters especially — and perhaps even more promi- 

 nent in certain reaches of the estuary of the Forth. It is no 

 exaggeration to speak of " clouds of Wild-fowl," or " the water black 



' The terms of the Order are : — 

 "Order by the Secretary for Scotland under the Wild Birds Protection Acts, 1880 

 to 1896, dated January 9, 1897- County of Fife." 



(See Marchant and Walkin's Wild Birds Protection Acts, 1880-96, p. 149. 

 London : R. H. Porter. 1897.) 



"In pursuance of the powers conferred upon me by the Wild Birds Protection 

 Act, 1894, and upon the application of the County Council of the County of Fife ; I, 

 the right Honourable Alexander Hugh, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, Her Majesty's 

 Secretary for Scotland, do hereby make the following Order to apply within the por- 

 tion of the County of Fife known as Tentsmuir, and bounded as follows :— On the 

 north by the Estuary of the Tay ; on the east by the German Ocean ; on the south 

 by the Estuary of the Eden ; and on the west by a chain of ditches, part of which is 

 known as Lundin Burn, and which forms a continuous line flowing both ways, into 

 the Tay at Tayport, and into the Eden near Reres Farm, all as shown, delineated, 

 and coloured red," etc. 



The present application of the Acts is shown in an Appendix, q.v. 



During the earlier years after the passing of the Acts for the preservation of 

 Wild Birds, and whilst Sir Ceorge Trevelyan was Secretary for Scotland, I was 

 requested — as an authority upon Scottish ornithology — to make suggestions as 

 regards the several county lists. At first the request came from the head office. 

 Afterwards, I was consulted by the county councillors of a number of Scottish 

 counties, and their lists were sent to me for revision. Amongst the latter I may 

 refer to those for Orkney and Shetland, Elgin, Sutherland, and my own county, 

 Stirlingshire. At very considerable trouble and expenditure of time, and purely in 

 the interests of our birds, I went into each case with care and deliberation, as no 

 doubt could be verified if these papers are at all available to successors in Office. 

 Using what knowledge I possessed of our native breeding species, whether these 

 were migrants or residents, and what knowledge I had also of geographical distribu- 

 tion at home and abroad, I gave all the assistance in my power as requested. For 

 t;xample, I cut down the Shetland list from some 1.30 species— approximately — to 

 twelve birds, which I considered it was really necessary to provide protection for, 

 giving my reasons for or against these, as well as those which I excluded, some of 

 which never bred in Shetland, nor are ever likely to do so, unless indeed we undergo 

 a great glacial epoch again '.—e.g. Sanderling, Knot, and some others equally 



