LEGISLATIVE PROTECTION FOR WILD BIRDS' EGGS 217 



facilitate the raids of the collector. Under such a law, they 

 say, it will become impossible for proprietors to continue to 

 afford that protection under the beneficence of which some 

 of the rarest and most interesting of our British birds have 

 alone maintained their position in our Islands. 



Esff collectors have much to answer for. The craze for 



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collecting clutches, and large numbers of eggs of the same 

 species, is responsible for much destruction. Fancy fifteen 

 clutches of the eggs of the Peregrine Falcon in the same 

 collection, and twenty of the Chough ; and what can we say 

 of one collector whose boast it is to possess over one 

 hundred Scottish taken eggs of the Golden Eagle (vide 

 "Zoologist," 1889, p. no). Would he take kindly to the 

 susreestion of one of the members of the British Association 



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that he should have the feathers of the birds presented to him, 

 with the addition of a little tar? 



There are other birds which might be mentioned, such as 

 the Warblers and the insectivorous birds generally ; the 

 Bearded Reedling, the White-tailed Eagle, Osprey, Kite, and 

 the three Harriers ; the Kentish Plover, Dotterel, Ruff, 

 and Black -tailed God wit ; and the Great Crested Grebe. 

 But enough has been said to show that certain birds are 



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persecuted, and that there are grave fears that some of them 

 will cease to exist as British breeding species unless steps 

 are taken to afford them protection. 



Here the difficulties begin. What form of protection is 

 the best ? and to what species should such protection be 

 extended ? If it is eventually found necessary to have 

 recourse to legislation, the most practical plan would probably 

 be for the Imperial Legislature to grant powers to the County 

 Councils from time to time, and as the necessity arose, to 

 place certain portions of a district, such as mountains, 

 commons, waste places, lakes and meres, or portions of cliffs 

 or foreshores, under an Act for certain specified months in 

 the year, say from April ist to June 3Oth. Such a plan 

 would be simple and it might be effective. 



But very much more than any legislative protection, we 

 want the sympathy and co-operation of landowners and 

 occupiers in order to get them to protect the birds breeding 

 on their property or occupation. The whole matter of the 



