Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/192

* GREAT BBITAIN. 166 GREAT BRITAIN. coming very scarce; the starling, the chaffinch, goldfinch, linnet, bullfinch, house-sparrow, various buntings, and other sccd-eaters; the skylarlc and woodlarl-c, illi several related wagtails, pipits, etc. ; a nutliatch and several varieties of titmouse, shrike, and waxwing. Thruslies are represented by the nightingale, blaclcbird, mavis, missel- thrush, and redwing — famous songsters; and lesser insect-eaters are the two chats, the vheatear, the redbreast, and several small war- blers, accentors, wrens, flycatchers, etc. Sev- eral swallows are familiar about buildings and river-banks, and two or three woodpeckers. The cuckoo, nightjar, swift, and kingfislier, one species each, carry the list to the birds of prey. These include the brown, barn, and several other small owls, it.li the great snowy owl as a winter visitor. The osprey is rare. Among the falcons are the peregrine, kestrel, gerfalcon, merlin, and pigeon and sparrow hawks. Honey-buzzards, kites, eagles, and vultures are seen only at long intervals, when they wander over from the Continent. The buzzards, goshawk, and marsh-harrier complete a long list. Fishing birds are represented by cormo- rants, gannets, etc., on the coast ; and by the bit- tern inland. Waterfowl include tame swans, the wild bernacle, greylag, bean, and pink-footed geese, and a series of ducks to a large degree identical with those of Canada. Four species of typical pigeons include the wild stock of domestic doves ard the widespread turtle-dove. The game birds are the capercailzie, blackgame, red grouse (one of the few birds peculiar to the British'Islands) , and the introduced pheasant : but sportsmen find a long list of visiting shore-birds, most of which are known also in America; while the sea-birds are those of the North Atlantic coasts generally. Fishes abound in the 'four seas' about Great Britain, and their capture supports a large mari- time population (see Fisheries) ; certain spe- cies, as the sole, turbot, and whitebait, are local and of wide repute for excellence. Salmon still ascend the northerly rivers of the Kingdom, tmder legal protection, and trout, grayling, and various fresh-water fishes of interest to anglers are similarly preserved. Oysters and various other '.shellfish' abound and are largely fished for or cultivated for food. Of reptiles. Great Britain contains but four — a small viviparous lizard, a blindworm, a small colubrine snake (Tropidono- f»s jififria;). and theidder {Pelias Bertis) . Sev- eral frogs, two toads, and some newts, comprise the amphibians. The insects, mollusks, and lower invertebrates are as numerous and varied as might be expected in a mild and moist climate, and have been more thoroughly studied, perhaps, than anywhere else on the globe. Geology. The Highlands in the north and ■west are the remnants of very ancient crystal- line and sedimentary rock masses that were greatly disturbed in early geological epochs and have since been largely reduced in height and area by erosion. These regions of ancient rocks were siibjected to much faulting and folding; and interspersed among them are areas which vol- canic outflows, occurring in various ages and as late as Tertiary times, covered with igneous de- posits, that were also greatly disturbed by dy- namical energy. These elevated lands are not marked by sharp and jagged peaks, but the moun- tains liave been worn away into rounded outlines and among them are interspersed a number of broad, plain-like moors broken here and there by more elevated masses of harder and particular- ly of eruptive rocks. The Highland regions may be compared in licight with our Catskill Tlateau and its surmounting elevations. In sharp contrast with these ancient crystal- line, sedimcntarj', and eruptive masses forming the Highlands are the younger rocks of the Lowlands, the widely distributed Old Red Sand- stone of Devonian formation, the chalk and sand- stones and the clays of the Carboniferous era. Toward the south and east of the old elevated rock masses are the Carboniferous strata con- taining the coal deposits which have con- tributed so much to the material greatness of Great Britain. None of the younger and lower lands has been niucli afl'ected by faulting and folding. These lower lands extend from the mouth of the Tee to the south of the island, widening with their south extension till they cover the larger part of England, Exeter being their western limit on the south coast. They are mostly flat, trough-shaped, or rolling sur- faces of the Triassic, .Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary formations. The greatest diversity of surface and the finest scenery is thus in the nortli and west, while the lowest and most uniform surface is in the south and east. The extreme south of England escaped glacial action, but else- where many of the minor features of the land were produced by the ice sheet and glaciers of the Ice Age. In scarcely any other part of the world is there so wide a range of geological strat.a in so limited an area as in Great Britain : only tlic broader aspects of the subjects are here indicated. Minerals .^'D ]Ii^-ixg. Great Britain has been favored aljove other European countries in the possession of abundant resources of the two minerals — coal and iron — which are most essen- tial to a varied and extensive industrial develop- ment. The industrial history of the nation and its present position and outlook are, therefore, intiinately connected with the possession and ex- ploitation of these resources, particularly coal. They have largely determined the distribution of population (see Population), have made possi- ble the highly developed industrial life, and have proved the chief basis of the extraordinary wealth of the country. The production of these min- erals did not attain their great significance until recent times, having been advanced to a promi- nent role during the industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were being produced, however, as early as the Roman period, and are supposed to have been not alto- gether unimportant. Following this period little was done until the coming of the Normans, when the industry revived. Collieries were first opened at Newcastle in 1238. Their proximity to the sea made tiie transportation of coal possible, and it was shipped to London and other English towns situated on navigalile streams. In the beginning of the seventeenth century coal was used in the smelting of iron, but the primitive methods of mining then, particularly the lack of means for pumping water out of the mines, limited its use. The inventions of Watt (c.1770), by eliminating this difficulty, revo- lutionized the mining industry, and greatly in- creased the possibility of production. The blast- furnace method of smelting iron had already been introduced, but the limited supply of coal, and the governmental prohibition of the use of wood (to prevent total destruction of the forests), im-