8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



two together may form a valuable addition to a museum. 

 Besides its ornithological value, the collection is deeply inter- 

 esting to the collector himself on account of its recorded 

 memories. That large white egg stained with brown, lying 

 on a piece of dry seaweed, recalls a day on the Bass Rock, 

 when eye and ear are bewildered by the constant movement 

 and sound of countless hosts of Gannets and other wild sea- 

 birds floating in the air and on the waves, or diving beneath 

 the surface of the water, their shrill cries making a strange 

 discord with the music of the sea, as it rolls its deep-toned 

 accompaniment along the base of the stupendous cliff. 

 Again, the clutch of Buzzards' eggs speaks of the solitude 

 of the mountains, of a bulky nest set on a ledge of a steep 

 overhanging rock at the head of a Highland glen, with a 

 peat-stained burn below winding its way through a world of 

 heather and moss. And so on all through the cabinet, every 

 clutch has its story, each egg its tale to tell, and every 

 drawer breathes its own separate associations : the shady 

 woods and breezy uplands, the swift -running brooks aid 

 sluggish streams, the lake and mountain tarn, the misty glen, 

 the sandy shores and rocky coasts, the hedgerows, and shrub- 

 beries, and eaves, and every nook and corner where the birds 

 come, from far and near, to rear their offspring in the joyous 

 days of spring — all are represented here in the lovely and 

 varied relics which lie displayed in systematic order before 

 us. When once the eggs of a particular bird have been 

 obtained they are rarely required again ; but the breeding 

 haunt being known, the return of the birds may be looked 

 for in each succeeding year, and their habits watched and 

 noted during the whole period of incubation. 



If we could confine our Collectors to the true type, 

 which I have attempted to describe, the Egg Dealers would 

 cease to exist, and with them would also disappear the tribe 

 of hangers-on which they maintain, there being no need for 

 their services, and no demand for their supplies ; and with 

 the attainment of this happy result, legislation for the pre- 

 servation of wild birds' eggs would become unnecessary. 



