76 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



NOTES ON "A BILL TO AMEND THE WILD 

 BIRDS' PROTECTION ACT, 1880." 



By ALFRED NEWTON, M.A., F.R.S., etc. 



[As the question of the Protection of Birds' Eggs is likely to again 

 occupy the attention of Parliament and the public, we have pleasure 

 in making known some of the views held by Professor Newton 

 upon this important and admittedly very difficult question. While 

 refraining from expressing any opinions of our own upon the subject, 

 we may remark that Professor Newton brings into the discussion of 

 this matter an amount of experience which is unequalled and 

 renders his opinions and criticism of unusual value and worthy of 

 the most careful consideration. We have to express to Professor 

 Newton our thanks for acceding to our request to be allowed to 

 publish his Notes. 



It should be explained that these Notes were written concerning 

 the Bill introduced into Parliament last year, by Sir Herbert Maxwell, 

 Bart., to amend the Wild Birds' Protection Act, 1880; and copies 

 of them were privately circulated among influential members of both 

 Houses. The aim of the new Bill was to enable County Councils 

 to prohibit the taking of the eggs of such species of birds as it 

 might seem desirable to name in different localities. Those who 

 followed the course of this proposed measure are aware that the Bill 

 duly passed the House of Commons ; that it was amended in the 

 House of Lords, chiefly at the instance of Lord Walsingham, 

 somewhat in accordance with the views expressed by Professor 

 Newton ; that it was, unfortunately we think, reconstructed by the 

 Chancellor in the Standing Committee ; and, finally, the Bill was 

 dropped because in its altered form it was not acceptable to its 

 original promoter. EDS.] 



THE question of protecting Birds' Eggs was several times 

 carefully considered by what was known as the " Close Time " 

 Committee (of which I was for a long while chairman) 

 appointed by the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, with which body originated modern legislation in 

 Bird Protection in this country. That Committee consisted 

 of some well-informed ornithologists and others, who had 

 especially paid attention to the subject. In their Report for 

 1 874 they stated that they "take this opportunity of declaring 

 their belief that the practice of birds'-nesting is, and has 

 been, so much followed in England, that no Act of Parliament, 



