CHAPTER IV 



GREAT BIRD GATHERINGS 



Mr. Richard Lydekker's search for the crested screamer — Extir- 

 pation of birds in La Plata — Persecution of sea birds in 

 England — The fight to save our birds — Our delight in the 

 spectacle of great bird gatherings. 



THIS chapter is nothing but a digression, 

 suggested by what goes before; for the 

 subject touched on in the account of the wild 

 geese on the east coast is one which stirs the natur- 

 alist and bird-lover deeply — the delight of witnessing 

 immense congregations of birds, especially those of 

 large size and noble appearance. The remembrance 

 of such scenes is a joy for ever, in many instances 

 clouded by the thought that the sight which it is a 

 happiness to recall will be witnessed no more. 



Some years ago the distinguished naturalist and 

 palaeontologist, Mr. Richard Lydekker, went out to 

 Buenos Ayres to look over and arrange the collection 

 of tertiary fossils in the famous La Plata Museum. 

 He had read my Naturalist in La Plata with indus- 

 trious zeal, quoting from it in rather a wholesale way 

 when compiling his Royal Natural History. He had 

 also read Darwin and other naturalists who have 

 described that same region, and had a hundred things 

 to look at besides the fossils. One thing he desired to 

 see was the crested screamer — that great spur-winged 



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