In consequence probably of my connection of more than fifty years with the Northern Lighthouse Board, and of the almost equally long service of my father, I have been requested, and with much diffidence have complied with the request, to write, by way of Introduction to these very interesting and instructive “Notes from the Bell Rock,” a few words regarding Lighthouses, and a short account of the Northern Lighthouse Service and its Lightkeepers. My love for that service, and the esteem I have for those responsible and patient watchmen of the night, whose duty it is to keep their lights burning to guard the mariner from some of the dangers to which he is exposed, and to guide him on his way over the vasty deep, may possibly enable me to say something to interest readers of the Notes in a service whose appropriate motto is “In Salutem Omnium.” The origin, as well as the early history, of lighthouses is involved in much obscurity, although we learn from ancient writers that lights of some sort, or beacon fires, were used for guiding vessels or warning them of danger at least three hundred years before the Christian era. The Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos of Alexandria are those that we first read of, but very little authentic information is to be got regarding them. At a much later date we know that sea lights for such purposes were produced by the burning of wood and coal in chauffers on coasts where they could be well seen. One such beacon fire was shown from a tower on the Isle of May, at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, from the year 1635 till 1816, when the present lighthouse was built, and is supposed to have been the first sea light on the coast of Scotland. It is not unlikely, however, that long before that date some of the most dangerous parts of the Mediterranean were lighted in a like primitive manner. The first lighthouse of any note of which we have authentic record is the Tour de Corduan, near the mouth of the river Garonne, in the south-west of France, which was founded in 1584, but not completed and lighted till 1610. On account of the style and grandeur of its architecture, it was long regarded as one of the wonders of the world, the Pharos of Alexandria having been regarded as another. Its lightroom was originally constructed for the combustion of wood in a kind of chauffer raised six feet above the floor of the lantern; but it has undergone many alterations and improvements since then, to bring it into keeping with the progressing and modern system of lighthouse illumination, which has made great strides during the last half-century.

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Excerpt from Notes on the Natural History of the Bell Rock Northern Lighthouse Board, was allowed to commence Opera tions, and after encountering and overcoming innumerable difficulties by his indomitable skill, energy, and perseverance, he at last completed the work, and had a light shown from it on lst February 1811. It is very satisfactory to be able to state as testifying to the excellency of the materials used in its construction, as well as to the careful and well devised scheme and execution of the workmanship, that the tower as yet shows no symptoms of decay, and stands as strong to-day as when newly erected. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is an ornithological bibliography for the counties of England, Wales, and Scotland and for the Isle of Man. It includes all known books, pamphlets and papers which contain substantial studies of the birds of local areas, from a county down to a back garden or a gravel pit. Each county has an introduction on its boundaries and the history of its ornithology. There has been no comprehensive national publication of this kind since Mullens, Swann and Jourdain's Geographical Bibliography in 1920. The volume also provides a detailed record of the many county and local bird reports and of the ever-increasing number of area surveys produced by statutory and voluntary bodies. The material is arranged by the pre-1974 counties and takes the record up to 1995. There are maps to show the many changes in county boundaries since 1800.The book will be a standard reference work for libraries and collectors, and for anyone interested in the rich and diverse development of local ornithology in its homeland.