SCARCITY OF WINTER BIRDS. 

 By Geo. Roberts. 



Since the end of September, the scarcity of birds in this, the Loft- 

 house district, has been remarkable. No flocks of redwings, fieldfares 

 or bramblings appeared at the usual time. Few bullfinches have been 

 seen, and tree-sparrows are much less frequent than they were last 

 winter. Fieldfares have been observed in this district in gradually 

 decreasing numbers for nine or ten years, and redwings have been 

 noticed in less numbers for six yedrs. 



About the end of last October, the only birds seen by the writer 

 during a walk of two miles along a brook-side, were, in addition to 

 house sparrows, one robin, one chaffinch, and one blue titmouse. The 

 scarcity does not arise from lack of food : haws, and various other 

 winter fruits were, and still are, tolerably plentiful ; and the weather, 

 save about one week when deep snow covered the ground, has been 

 mild and favourable. 



It has long been surmised that birds from northern districts move 

 southward at the beginning of winter, and that the deserted districts 

 are partially filled up by birds from more northern regions : in other 

 words, there has always been a general tendency among what are 

 called resident birds to emigrate southward before or during winter. 

 The question arises— may the four or five severe winters that we have 

 had lately, have encouraged and developed that inherent tendency to 

 migrate southward, or may they have induced some entirely new 

 migration Immense numbers of our small birds have perished 

 ,during the arctic winters that we experienced previous to 1881-2 ; if 

 such winters had continued, and no migration or shifting of quarters 

 had taken place, nearly all of our small birds would have been exter- 

 minated. When v/e find that birds perish from cold and hunger when 

 a southward flight of five or six hours would place them in a more 

 genial and bountiful region, a want of fore-knowledge and instinct 

 seems to be displayed, so that it is not unreasonable to suppose that 

 the series of severe winters might have quickened the migrative 

 impulse, and caused them to withdraw from northern latitudes in 

 greater numbers, and, as just hinted, new or more lengthy preservative 

 migrations may have originated. All migrations must have had a 

 beginning, and they are subject, like everything else, to modification. 

 When once a bird, or a flock of birds, have been driven to take a 

 longer flight, or to deviate from the usual course, we may infer that 

 N.S,, Vol. viii.. Feb,, 1883. 



