14 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



but it is also essential that there should be preventive measures 

 when a species is yet far from danger of extinction. Only by 

 self-sacrifice amongst collectors can this be accomplished. 



The small boy collector is far less of a danger than many 

 extremists believe. The two species whose eggs are more 

 frequently taken than those of any other are the Song-Thrush 

 and Blackbird, and yet no one can say that these two §how 

 signs of diminution in numbers. Most of us began to collect 

 birds or eggs when we were boys, but the sooner we get over 

 the craze the better ; interest in the specimens may degenerate 

 into the collecting mania. I know some really good observant 

 ornithologists who cannot refrain from adding a clutch of eggs 

 to their already huge collection if it happens to contain well- 

 marked eggs, and it is very seldom that a nest of eggs is 

 unattractive. 



The " man with the gun," the hedgeside moucher, is another 

 foe of the bird. He is not often shooting for the pot, but he 

 shoots for the sake of shooting. After all his is the sportsman's 

 instinct, and it is doubtful if in his miscellaneous shooting he 

 does more damage than tire wealthy sportsman who allows his 

 keepers to kill anything which is not game. On the other hand, 

 some of our land-owning sportsmen have done more than any 

 one else in the way of saving our rarest species ; they 

 have made their keepers into effective watchers, and apart from 

 this, the privacy of woods and moors, well guarded, and the 

 destruction of some of the worst predatory foes of birds, has 

 given seclusion and protection to many species that are not 

 inimical to game. Some, though not all, rod fishermen are 

 hard upon their avian competitors — the Kingfisher, Heron, 

 Cormorant, Red-breasted Merganser and Great Crested Grebe ; 

 there are waters, however, where any of these birds are 

 welcomed. Professional sea-fishermen differ greatly in their 

 attitude towards piscatoral birds, and in certain districts even 

 the voracious Cormorant and Shag are tolerated. The plea 



