62 
data in our possession, noted from personal observation, and that 
of some of our friends—members of the Natural History Society 
of Glasgow—we are enabled to affirm positively that as many as 
1800 birds of all kinds have been strangled during the course of 
a single week, and that for eight or ten seasons in succession, 
especially during the tenure of the rock by the tacksman of 1853, 
and several subsequent years, the weekly number taken out of 
the nets could not be estimated at less than 150 dozen. With 
this statement we dismiss the subject, as one which, for the credit 
of the district, we hope may not require further exposure. 
Waiving this digression, therefore, we think that, in common 
fairness, to adduce no stronger argument, birds of all kinds 
should have a “close time” during the season of incubation. It 
is not right that any class of creatures should be killed when 
brooding on their eggs, or exposing themselves to danger in the 
protection of their defenceless young. In the case of birds 
especially, many species wholly throw aside their usual wariness 
at such a season; and as regards isolated places like Ailsa Craig, 
exposed as they are to the plundering visits of heartless pleasure 
seekers, no one, we think, will ever call in question the wisdom or 
humanity of providing for their future protection. 

