London to Larbert (Scotland)
1909.
Sept 11 [September 11, 1909]
(No 2)  
  The sparseness of the population in these central, rural districts
of England surprised me greatly. The houses are few and far between
and there were almost no men at work in the fields. But nearly
all the pasture lands were alive with horses, cattle & sheep, 
the number of animals which a given area can support being
evidently much greater than with us. Few of the pastures were
close cropped & in most of them the grass was lush & dense &
the feeding beasts literally "up to their eyes" in it. There was scarce
a field which was not well supplied with birds chiefly Rooks,
Starlings, Thrushes & Blackbirds with here and there a flock of 50 or
more Lapwings. Some of these flew and scattered as the train
thundered by. From the grain fields Sparrows rose in clouds 
and Wood Pigeons and Stock Doves in smaller numbers.
Occasionally we passed a warren alive with Rabbits and
once I saw a big Hare crouched in short stubble.
  Near the English lakes, which we passed within a few miles
although none of them could be seen from the train, the country
became mountainous and beyond Carlisle we came to still higher
mountains rising on both sides of the narrow valley of small 
swift-flowing rivers up which the railroad ran. None of these
elevations were wooded but most of them were abundantly 
supplied with blooming heather which tinged with delicate purple
wide areas on their steeply sloping grassy sides. Some were
rounded, others long, narrow-crested ridges. After crossing the
border into Scotland and thence all the way to Larbert we
saw Rooks, Starlings & Lapwings in simply countless numbers.
In fact every grassy field was literally alive with them & with them 
in many places were Black headed or Mew Gulls. The number
of Lapwings in every suitable field (they affected the pastures chiefly)
ranged from 10 or 12 to 50 or 70. In all I must have
seen at least 2000 of these birds in the course of a couple of hours.