[2] 



done if the work were more generously 

 supported. It is truly disheartening to be 

 obliged to refuse constant appeals for help 

 in preserving rare and beautiful species in 

 out-of-the-way spots, and it is still more 

 depressing to hear from the Society's 

 itinerant Inspectors of what might be done 

 — and could so easily be done, if onl}' more 

 money were available — in obtaining the con- 

 victions of noted and flagrant egg-robbers, 

 and in enforcing the law in districts where 

 the Act is entirely disregarded. 



The system upon which the Watchers 

 Committee works is as follows : — 



(a) Salaried Watchers are appointed to 



look after breeding colonies in danger 



of being raided. There are also some 



honorary Watchers, 'but these are few 



and far between. 



{b) Ex-Police Inspectors are employed, 



firstly, to help and advise Watchers 



who may be in need of expert assistance 



on legal points ; secondly, to visit places 



where rare birds and eggs are taken, to 



collect information, and by so doing to 



enable the police or others to take 



legal proceedings. 



(c) Members of the Watchers Committee 



pay periodical visits at their own expense 



to places where Watchers are employed, 



in order to see that they are fulfilling 



their undertakings ; these gentlemen 



being experienced ornithologists, are able 



to report upon local conditions affecting 



birds and nests. 



This year trustworthy men have been 



employed as Watchers in Kent, North 



Wales, Somerset, Cornwall, Cumberland, Isle 



of Wight, Shetland, and Aberdeenshire ; 



and among other places which have been 



visited by the travelling Inspectors are 



mountainous districts in Wales, the Scotch 



Highlands, and the Hebrides. The Shetlands, 



Orkneys, Cornwall, the Isle of Wight, and 

 Kent have been personally visited by mem- 

 bers of the Committee, and the work being 

 done by the paid Watchers thoroughly 

 investigated and reported upon ; a special 

 visit of enquiry was paid to the Orkneys 

 where it is hoped, funds permitting, to 

 inaugurate a system of Watching similar 

 to that which has now been carried on in 

 the Shetlands since 1906. 



The species on the protection of which 

 special efforts have been expended, efforts 

 which in some places have met with gratify- 

 ing success, are Cornish Chough, Raven, 

 Crested Tit, Red-necked Phalarope, Peregrine, 

 Kite, Eagles (White-tailed and Golden), 

 Harriers (three species), Buzzard, Kentish 

 Plover, Norfolk Plover, Great Skua, and all 

 species of Terns. 



So much success has attended the protection 

 of Ravens and Peregrines that not only have 

 pairs which were in danger of extermination 

 been preserved, but the species is actually 

 spreading to new haunts, and some pairs are 

 re-estabhshing themselves in spots in which 

 they have not nested for twenty years. 

 Needless to say every new colony should 

 have its Watcher until the birds are firmly 

 estabHshed. nest-robbers being ever on the 

 look-out ; but funds do not at present 

 suffice for this. 



Great Skuas or Bonxies have steadily in- 

 creased, thanks to the protection accorded 

 by certain landowners, as well as bj' 

 Watchers employed by the R.S.P.B. Their 

 breeding haunts, which had been reduced 

 to two islands, having recently extended 

 to neighbouring islands, arrangements for the 

 protection of these new colonies are now 

 required. 



Since the appointment of a Watcher some 

 years ago, Kentish Plovers have so greatly 

 increased that during the last three seasons 



