BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



agent will climb to the eyrie of the White- 

 tailed Eagles and fight the birds for their 

 last egg ; he will rob the nest of the feeble 

 St. Kilda Wren, or take toll as he walks by 

 the nest of the Roseate Tern. A moderate 

 risk of fine and the forfeiture of his booty 

 does not deter him, and it becomes absolutely 

 necessary to appoint special watchers to 

 keep the birds under observation all through 

 the nesting season." 



" Perhaps in course of time," remarks the 

 Aberdeen Free Press (February 17th), " we 

 may educate these collectors out of existence 

 . . . but until this is done we must take 

 protective and preventive measures, and be 

 grateful for the excellent work performed 

 by the watchers of the Royal Society for the 

 Protection of Birds. 



" We in this part of the country have a 

 melancholy example of bird persecution in 

 the story of the Ospreys on Loch-an-eilean. 

 It has been told in detail in the pages of the 

 Cairngorm Club Journal, and is at once a 

 tragedy in wild life and a disgrace to the men 

 who perpetrated it. The Ospreys may never 

 return to the ruined tower on that little 

 Speyside loch, and it may be too late to repair 

 that crime. The warning, however, may be 

 taken, and every man who loves the country 

 and its living things will give his influence to 

 prevent similar and other outrages upon the 

 rare animals of our land." 



" As we have had occasion to point out 

 more than once," says Country Life (Feb- 

 ruary 22nd), " whoever is desirous of obtain- 

 ing specimens of the nests and eggs of the 

 rarest species can always do so in this country > 

 in spite of the various Acts of Parliament 

 meant for their protection. There is a 

 constant and regular trade, which it is the 

 object of the Society to which we have 

 referred to stop. Obviously its continuation 

 means the utter destruction of many species 

 that are now thinned down to an almost 

 disappearing point of rarity. 



'« The aim of those who wrote the letter 

 of which we have made a text is frankly 

 to obtain funds for the payment of these 

 watchers and other necessary expenses. 



It is certainly not unfair that they should be 

 allowed to publish such an appeal. There 

 is no reason in the world why a very small 

 section of the community should be called 

 upon to bear all the expenses incidental to 

 the preservation of our rare birds ; for in 

 the highest sense of the term the creatures 

 of the air, the beasts of the field, and the 

 fishes of the sea are the property of all who 

 take their pleasure abroad. They amuse 

 and delight the eye, they feast the ear, and 

 they minister to that insatiable curiosity 

 regarding their manifestation of life that seems 

 to be essential to existence, if not part of 

 existence itself. Whoever destroys them is 

 acting against the public good, and we have 

 the greatest sympathy with a society which 

 exists for the purpose of protecting the wild 

 creatures of this country from the hands of 

 the depredator, whether he goes by the name 

 of a pot-hunter or of a collecting naturalist." 



The Times, in a leading article (March 2nd) 

 on the Protection of Wild Birds, also refers 

 to the extinction or threatened extinction 

 of many of Britain's most interesting species, 

 and adds : " The admirable work of the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 

 in appointing paid watchers to guard the 

 nesting-places of the rarest species, deserves 

 a wide extension of support ; nor is this 

 method of bird protection open to the utili- 

 tarian objections which can be urged in certain 

 cases against the preservation of more gener- 

 ally distributed species." 



For such sympathetic and outspoken 

 articles as those quoted, and for the publi- 

 cation of the appeal in a large number of 

 influential newspapers, bird-lovers may well 

 be grateful to the Press, and the Society 

 has also to thank the friends of Bird 

 Protection who responded to that appeal. 

 Other co-operation is likewise essential. In 

 the first place, that of County Councils in 

 the scheduling and all-the-year protection of 

 rare species. And here may be noted the 

 importance of protecting these birds even 

 in districts where they may be little likely 

 to occur ; since to apply for such protection 

 only when and where a rare species is found 

 established is likely enough to bring about 



