EGG-COLLECTING 149 



foresters, and gillies — but these exceptions are not 

 numerous, and it cannot be doubted that the dealing 

 " collector " is in these days an evil, so that no true 

 naturalist could object to see obstacles put in his way. 

 Whether he would not be astute enough to escape the 

 meshes of any Act of Parliament could only be ascertained 

 after trial ; but certainly an Act to check his proceedings 

 must be very different from the present Bill, which, I feel 

 sure, would hardly touch him. He is well enough off to 

 employ counsel if charged, and of his own knowledge 

 would be able to indicate a line of defence that would 

 ensure his acquittal perhaps in nineteen cases out of 

 twenty, whatever might be the evidence of the pro- 

 secution. 



On the other hand, the ordinary schoolboy could not 

 afiord counsel ; and, being ignorant of the mode of 

 escape, would be almost invariably convicted. If the 

 Bench before whom he was brought let him off with a 

 reprimand and a nominal penalty, a few cases of the kind 

 would render the Act ridiculous. If the Bench inflicted 

 a serious fine, and in default of payment, as would 

 commonly happen, he went to gaol, the country would 

 very properly ring with an outcry against an Act which 

 brought that fate upon him for doing what an ancient 

 authority — still respected by some people — held to be 

 irreprehensible (see Deuteronomy xxii. 6, 7). 



But, as already hinted, there are places in which the 

 schoolboy may do real harm, and I see no injustice in 

 limiting him to some extent, while the " collector " is 

 generally baneful ; and, as I have tried to show, the man 

 who gathers eggs to eke out a living would be content, if 

 not pleased, with restrictions that would tend to multiply 

 the birds which produce them — just as professional 

 gunners now admit that, since the passing (in 1876) of 

 the Wild-Fowl Preservation Act, there are more Wild- 

 fowl to shoot. I therefore strongly urge that the present 

 BiU be amended so as to enable places and not species 

 to be protected. It is an historical fact that old laws, 

 which certainly did not err on the side of leniency, 



