BRITISH VERTEBRATES. 
43 
contains a fine group of Gannets and other sea-birds from the 
Bass Eock in the Firth of Forth. On the opposite side are two 
important groups with the surroundings true to nature, the one 
of the Golden Eagle and the other of the Buzzard, both 
taken in Scotland. Other groups in the pavilion display the 
Kestrel, the Peregrine Falcon, and the Merlin in their natural 
surroundings. Among the Mammals, especial attention may be 
directed to a case of British Hares and Babbits. In another 
case may be seen a female Badger and her young ; while in a 
third are a group of Otters, in a fourth a Mole- hill with its 
inhabitants ; in a fifth a pair of Martens, in a sixth Polecats, 
Stoats, and Weasels, in a seventh Hedgehogs, Squirrels in 
another, and so on. 
Here it may be mentioned that the animal inhabitants of any 
country or district are collectively termed its "faitna!' The 
British Islands in this respect belong to the great zoo-geographi- 
cal region called Palsearctic, or Eastern Holarctic, embracing all 
Europe, the north of Africa, and the western and northern 
portions of Asia. As in the case of all islands, the species 
belonging to groups whose powers of locomotion are limited to 
the land or fresh-water, are not numerous compared with those 
inhabiting large continental tracts. Their numbers can only 
increase under exceptional circumstances, and have a tendency 
to diminish, as the growth of human population and increase 
of the area of cultivated land gradually reduce their 
native haunts. In this way, the Brown Bear, the Wolf, the 
Beaver, and the Wild Boar have disappeared from Britain 
within the historic period, while others, as the Badger, Marten, 
and Wild- Cat, with difficulty maintain a more or less precarious 
existence. These have all been originally derived from the main- 
land of Europe, probably before the formation of the channel 
which separated Great Britain. The wider and older channel 
which separates Ireland from Great Britain has been a 
greater barrier to the emigration of animal life than that 
between the latter and the Continent, many species (as the 
Polecat, Wild-Cat, Mole, Squirrel, Dormouse, Harvest-Mouse, 
Water-Eat, Short-tailed Field-Mouse, Common Hare, Eoedeer, 
as well as Snakes and Toads) never having crossed, unless 
by human agency. 
