INTRODUCTION. 
I I 
much toil and trouble, and when eggs are wantonly taken to be hung in festoons 
or carelessly broken, he unreservedly condemns. So, too, birds must occasionally be 
shot for comparison and scientific purposes, but no one can reprobate more than 
the writer the senseless custom which prompts so many on seeing a rare bird to 
shoot it. This it is which has robbed our woodlands of many of their most 
interesting denizens. Nor can the writer believe that the almost complete destruc¬ 
tion of birds of prey through many districts of Scotland is beneficial to the increase 
of game. Certainly the absence of hawks, owls, and the like greatly diminishes the 
interest which every true sportsman as well as every naturalist must take in his 
walks. Fortunately the legislature has of recent years succeeded by the three Bird 
Bills in protecting many innocent birds from cruel and often useless slaughter. 
The Field newspaper and others are much to be commended for their ceaseless 
advocacy of the rights of our native birds. It may be hoped, too, that the gradual 
spread of learning and the advance of cheap and wholesome literature in our country 
districts will do much more for the good cause of protecting birds and other native 
animals, such as hedgehogs and water-rats, from the unrelenting persecution of 
rustics, at present too ignorant and unreasonable to be persuaded to extend 
immunity and forbearance to these interesting creatures. Without an enlightened 
love of country sights and sounds, a strong conviction of the sanctity of life, and 
a reverent heart and mind, these objects can hardly be attained. 
“Far less had then 
The inferior creatures, beast or bird, attuned 
My spirit to that gentleness of love 
(Though they had long been carefully observed), 
Won from me those minute obeisances 
Of tenderness, which I may number now 
With my first blessings.”* 
A few, and but very few, of the teachings of the poets about birds and the 
inspiration they have derived from them, have been added to the description of 
each bird in these pages. The subject is far too wide, and contains such a wealth of 
illustration that it could only be touched upon, in order to recommend its prosecu¬ 
tion to all who are fond of the intelligent study of birds, especially in its literary 
aspect. No one can read Shelley's wonderful “ Ode to the Skylark,” or Keats’ exquisite 
verses on the nightingale, without perceiving how a poet’s fancy may be kindled to 
produce a music sweeter than the bird’s own song from so trivial a sound as— 
“A blackbird’s whistle in a budding grove.” 
The effect of a bird’s song upon different poetic temperaments is another very 
* Wordsworth, “ The Prelude. 
