THE WORKING OF THE WILD BIRDS PROTECTION ACT 7 



have amounted to quite a considerable sum in the case of 

 the Tentsmuir Order alone ; and undoubtedly this is an item 

 of expense which many Councils may be glad to avoid in- 

 curring, by the simple expedient of leaving the Act severely 

 alone. Might it not, therefore, be sufficient for the County 

 Authorities to be directed merely to promulgate the Order by 

 means of handbills displayed in the windows of police stations 

 ' within or near ' the protected area, or in some such simple 

 way ? The saving in expense would be considerable, and 

 would be all in favour of our cause. 



It is also to be hoped that the Legislature will at the 

 same time increase the penalty as it may be, the ridiculously 

 inadequate penalty which is all that can at present be im- 

 posed on an offender convicted of a contravention of any of 

 the Wild Birds Acts. Under certain circumstances a very 

 small fine may be all that is called for ; but if anything is to 

 be done to curb the marauding instincts of professional egg- 

 dealers or of ignorant men with guns, both the transgressor 

 himself, and also any person who has solicited, or being his 

 employer has knowingly permitted him to do the wrongful 

 act, must be liable to a penalty much heavier than the 

 present maximum of i per egg taken or per bird destroyed ; 

 and, as a matter of course, any eggs found in the possession 

 of an accused person, or the skins of birds he has killed, 

 should in every case be confiscated as a necessary con- 

 sequence of the conviction. There are too many men whom 

 it is scarcely possible to persuade not to shoot every unusual 

 but interesting or beautiful bird they come across ; and there 

 are gamekeepers who not only shoot down Owls and Buzzards, 

 Woodpeckers and Jays, without a shadow of remorse, but who 

 are encouraged by their employers to do so. One would 

 fain hope such men are less numerous than they were ; but, 

 be they many or few, may it soon be within one's power to 

 bring to bear upon them a force more persuasive than 

 argument. 



