222 
BIRDS. 
Orchards in particular require notice as giving 
resort to several species, and plentiful supply of food 
to them in autumn and winter from that large stock 
of scarabsei and other insects congregated in the 
bark, leaves, and flower-buds. The differences of 
habitations and food of the same species in different 
localities is a subject which has yet attracted too 
little attention, and without doubt, due consider¬ 
ation of this point would lead to the solution of 
many apparent discrepancies and contradictions 
attached at present to the study of ornithology. If 
we reflect on the extent to which orchards are 
employed by birds as spots of concealment, and for 
gathering food, and then recollect how many 
counties in England are devoid of them, this truth 
may at once appear. But notwithstanding these 
influences of man which are so very evident in our 
ornithological pursuits, there are some facts in the 
history of our birds which appear contradictory to 
the above statements, or anomalous,—the sudden 
withdrawal of the Kite , so common a few years 
since, the entire removal of the Crane and Egret, 
in former years plentiful, the lessened numbers of 
the Dartford warbler and some other birds, the 
smaller migrating parties of Crossbills, &c. are 
cases illustrative of the necessity of being prepared 
to admit certain changes in a Fauna which are 
independent of human operations. 
In conclusion, I observe that besides possessing 
nearly all the kinds of birds found at any period in 
most other parts of this country, we are able to 
enumerate species from Africa, the Continental 
States from south to north, and even from the 
Polar Regions; and that in consequence, our 
aggregate list stands unrivalled among the English 
local Faunas, in regard of size and interest. In 
another part of this book I have analyzed our 
Fauna in such a manner as to determine pretty 
