38 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



the chief breeding-places of our sea birds were invaded 

 every year at hoHday time by train-loads and ship-loads 

 of trippers with guns to engage in the wholesale mas- 

 sacre of the birds on the cliffs and the sea. Nor was 

 it confined to the trippers from London, Manchester, 

 Birmingham, and other great centres of population; the 

 fascination of it drew men of all classes, including those 

 who annually shot (and even owned) the moors and 

 coverts. For in June and July the grouse and partridge 

 and pheasant were not yet ready for killing, and it was 

 great fun in the meantime to have a few days with the 

 gannets, terns, kittiwakes, guillemots, and other auks. 

 It was nothing to them that the birds were breeding, 

 that the result of this wholesale slaughter would be the 

 extirpation of the multitudes of sea birds which people 

 the cliffs before the century was out, since they were 

 no man's birds — only God's. 



Happily there were a few men in England who had 

 the courage to lift up their voices against this hideous 

 iniquity, who eventually succeeded in getting an Act 

 for its suppression. Thus it came about that our sea 

 birds were saved and we have them still, and that we 

 were given courage to go on and try to save our land 

 birds as well. 



And with this business we are still occupied, fighting 

 to save our country's bird life from destruction — how 

 strange that so long and strenuous a fight should be 

 necessary to secure such an object! But that it is a 

 winning fight becomes more evident as the years go 

 on. There is now a public feeling on our side: we are 



