INTRODUCTION. 
75 
articles of luxury. The capercalzie has long dis- 
appeared from our northern forests ; and we fear 
that a less noble, but more interesting bird, from 
its restricted locality, is fast following. The Bird 
of Britain, confined in its range exclusively within 
the boundaries of our islands, is decreasing fear- 
fully and rapidly. Fifty years hence, another 
generation may have to travel far before he can 
see the redgrouse, the moor-fowl of our northern 
hills, if the indiscriminate slaughter continues as 
it now prevails. The ptarmigan has also dimi- 
nished in numbers, but its high and rocky almost 
inaccessible haunts, will always be, to a certain 
extent, a safeguard and protection against unli- 
mited destruction. The bustard is another loss 
which cannot be replaced ; the extensive com- 
mons, the wastes or plains of the south, have lost 
their solitariness, and with it, in the judgment of 
the ornithologist, their greatest ornament ; while 
among the Grallatorial birds, the crane and the 
stork are now only heard of as stragglers from 
their wonted courses. But it may be asked, 
Have no species been introduced, have none 
become more numerous, so as to balance or 
replace these blanks in our Fauna ? There are a 
few. The black-grouse has multiplied exceed- 
ingly, delighting, as it were, in the protection of 
man and in the reclaimed lands adjacent to the 
wilder tracts ; the red-legged partridge has been 
