BIRDS IN A CORNISH VILLAGE


BIRDS IN A CORNISH VILLAGE


I
TAKING STOCK OF THE BIRDS


Havinc begun, or first written, this book in one
village, which was near London, I am now finishing,
or re-writing, it in another in “ the westest part
of all the land,” over three hundred miles from the
first. Here I had to go over this ancient work of
twenty-three years ago, which was also my first
English bird book, to prepare it for a new edition;
and after all necessary corrections, omissions and
additions of fresh matter made in the foregoing
parts, it seemed best to throw out the whole of the
concluding portion, which dealt mainly with the
question of bird-preservation as it presented itself
at that time and is now out of date, thanks to the


legislation of recent years and to the growth in this
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228 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE


country of the feeling or desire for birds during the
last two or three decades. In place of this discarded
matter I propose to give here the results of recent
observations on the bird life of a Cornish village.
My residence in the Cornish village (or villages)
was during May and June, 1915, and again from
October of the same year.to June, 1916. These
were months of ill-health, so that I was prevented
from pursuing my customary outdoor rambling
life ; but, like that poor creature the barnyard fowl
that can’t use its wings, instinctively, or from old
habit, I used my eyes in keeping a watch on the
feathered (and flying) people about me.
