LOST BRITISH BIRDS. 
♦ 
The species described as lost in this paper, are those which 
were summer residents and breeders, or inhabitants all the 
year round, of some part of Great Britain, but which no 
longer breed in this country and visit our shores only as rare 
stragglers, or, bi-annually, in their migrations to and from 
their breeding areas on the continent of Europe. In other 
words, if the British race be extinct the species is here 
regarded as lost, however abundant it may be elsewhere. 
Perhaps it would be safer to say if practically extinct ; since 
I have included species of which one or two pairs are still 
known to breed within the kingdom. In the case of the 
ruff and reeve, for instance, Professor Newton is inclined to 
think that I have been a “ little premature.” Taking the 
word “ lost ” in this restricted sense, I do not think that 
ornithologists will find that I am very much out in my list, 
which I have been assisted in making by two friends, both 
authorities in questions of this kind—Mr. J. E. Harting, and 
Professor Newton himself. It is certainly difficult to know 
where to draw the line, and having once determined to 
include species that are practically extinct, like the hen¬ 
harrier and the ruff and reeve, there were others, like the 
osprey and sea-eagle, which it seemed unreasonable to omit. 
But it was necessary to draw the line somewhere, and it 
was thought best to leave out any species represented by 
at least three or four pairs that have some measure of 
protection afforded to them when breeding. 
B 
