92 
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
field from which the supply can be drawn is very 
extensive, and includes the continent of Europe, 
the countries of North Asia, a large portion of 
North America and Antarctic America, or South 
Chili and Patagonia. It would not be going too 
far to say that for every English species, inhabit- 
ing the garden, wood, field, stream, or waste, at 
least half a dozen resident species, with similar 
habits, might be obtained from the countries 
mentioned which would be superior to our own 
in melody (the nightingale and lark excepted), 
bright plumage, grace of form, or some other 
attractive quality. 
The question then arises. What reason is there 
for believing that these exotics, imported neces- 
sarily in small numbers, would succeed in winning 
a footing in our country, and become a permanent 
addition to its avifauna ? For it has been admitted 
that our species are not few, in spite of the losses 
that have been suffered, and that the bird popula- 
tion does not diminish, however much its character 
may have altered and deteriorated from the 
aesthetic point of view, and probably also from the 
utilitarian. There are no vacant places. Thus, 
the streams are fished by herons, grebes, and king- 
fishers, while the rushy margins are worked by 
coots and gallinules, and, above the surface, reed- 
and sedge-warblers, with other kinds, inhabit the 
