39§ THE STRUCTURE AND LIFE OF BIRDS chap. 



structure of each unfamiliar nest he finds and writing 

 a description of it, of waiting about to see the old 

 birds and listening to the song of the cock, if he does 

 sing, and of verifying on getting home the one egg 

 he has possessed himself of, by referring to books 

 for an account of the eggs, nest, and bird ; he is a 

 rational being and little in danger of developing the 

 greed that is the vice of the collector. Certainly 

 he will never be guilty of the folly, that should 

 be criminal, of buying rare eggs, and so raising 

 their market value to the imminent danger of 

 exterminating the species. 



If you wish to look upon a scene of beauty, vigorous 

 life and jostling sociability, you should go to some 

 out-of-the-way cliff or island where seabirds nest 

 — pay a visit to a colony of Puffins, most naive, most 

 comic of birds, sitting at the thresholds of their 

 crowded nestholes — see the Guillemots lining long 

 ledges that are perilously narrow for their eggs — see 

 the Razorbills, the Oystercatchers, the flocks of Kitti- 

 wakes and all the other winged things of loveliness. 

 But, perhaps, nothing of the kind that Great Britain 

 can show can equal the scene on some island in the 

 Pacific, where acres of land are clothed with grave 

 Albatrosses too busy with their eggs and their young 

 to think of flying away from men and cameras. 



Much may be learnt by shooting specimens, and 

 if you either skin every bird you shoot, or pay for 

 the skinning, you are likely to avoid indiscriminate 

 slaughter. Many people are not content with a field- 

 glass ; they want more tangible results than it gives 

 them. And some birds will not stop to be looked at. 



