. Wild birds and their haunts (a book for students and sportsmen) . d during my countrypilgrimages. In the great play thats never done birds occupy avery important part, and it is difficult to conjure upthose far off days when there were no birds and no flowers,a birdless and a flowerless world. We live to-day in themost beautiful period in the worlds history, and whencivilisation awakes to its real sense of proportion weshall all, as Ruskin predicted, return to Nature. Then,let us fervently hope, we shall, in the words of RalphWalds Emerson, walk with her trustingly, scorning 18 Introduction
. Wild birds and their haunts (a book for students and sportsmen) . d during my countrypilgrimages. In the great play thats never done birds occupy avery important part, and it is difficult to conjure upthose far off days when there were no birds and no flowers,a birdless and a flowerless world. We live to-day in themost beautiful period in the worlds history, and whencivilisation awakes to its real sense of proportion weshall all, as Ruskin predicted, return to Nature. Then,let us fervently hope, we shall, in the words of RalphWalds Emerson, walk with her trustingly, scorning 18 Introduction notliing, rejecting nothing, and rejoicing always in thetruth. The Author of this volume has had exceptionalopportunities for studying various kinds of featheredfowl in their own homes, and if his experiences help toarouse greater interest in the pure science of Ornithologyhe will have done yeoman service on behalf of a fascinat-ing life-study which lies very near and dear to my ownheart. W. PERCIVAL WESTELL, Vernlum, January, 1922. THE BIRDS OF LEWIS, HEBRIDES. RECENTLY, on the kind invitation of the ownerof Lewis, or Lews—as the original name is —Rt. Hon. Lord Leverhulrne, I visited the Islandto take a natuialists survey of this famous haunt of biids. I arrived at Lochalsh to take steamer for Stornowayon August the first, and during the voyage, which usuallytakes six hours—for this Glasgow boat is a slow one,doing about ten knots at most—I saw several speciesof gulls, either disporting themselves in the wate?, orfollowing the vessel in quest of broken bits thrown over-board. Furtht t in the Minch I descried bunches of theLittle Stint, the usual frequenters of most island an early Widgeon comes into view, and then one seesa darting swift descend in the wake of the vessel. This isthe Skua, who has noticed the gull in the act of taking aherring or other fish, and who piomptly descends to wrestthe morsel, as is his custom. Still
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectwaterbi, bookyear1922
