WILD BIRDS' PROTECTION ACT 143 



on payment of costs. The Act therefore has been per- 

 fectly useless — as the real friends of bird protection fore- 

 saw it would — -in regard to Wild-fowl, and their persecu- 

 tion goes on as actively as ever. For the last two years 

 the shops have been full of Plovers, Snipes, Wild Ducks, 

 etc., long after the breeding season, i.e. the so-called 

 *' Close-time," began, just as though no Act existed. I 

 need scarcely point out to you that no birds are decreasing 

 more rapidly in this country than Wild-fowl of all kinds, 

 and this is quite as much owing to the way in which they 

 are shot down during the breeding season, when they 

 become comparatively tame, as to drainage and improved 

 cultivation.* 



The most important of the Wild Birds' Protection 

 Acts was that of 1880, which definitely estabhshed the 

 principle of a close time for all wild birds between 

 March 1 and August 1, with the imposition of a penalty 

 for any infringement of that regulation, and a more con- 

 siderable penalty in the case of certain birds, which were 

 specially named in the schedule. Unfortunately the 

 members of the Houses of ParHament did not always 

 agree as to what birds should be included in the schedule 

 with the members of the " Close-time " Committee, 

 who had been chiefly instrumental in promoting the Bill. 

 One of the disputed birds was the Skua, which was not 

 considered by the Lords to be worthy of special protec- 

 tion ; it may be said that both species were eventually 

 included in the schedule. 



July 26, 1880. 



Dear Walsingham, 



I am very sorry that the Duke of Argyll should 

 object to any protection being accorded to Skuas. They 

 are, of course, predatory, but I utterly deny their being 

 " mischievous and destructive." We have two species 

 which breed in Britain ; the commoner and smaller 



* A.N. to Lord Walsingham, January 27, 1875. 



