EGGS AND EGG-COLLECTING. 7 



vast tracts of land by night, on wings the length and 

 strength of which have been specially developed for such 

 long nights. Some fly across great stretches of country, 

 yet are never seen except at the points from which they 

 start and finish their flight. Neither can these journeys 

 be performed always under the guidance of leaders, for all 

 migratory birds do not travel in flocks. 



I will endeavour to point out how Nature has solved 

 the problem of preservation ; and it is equally interesting 

 whether by the self-governed action of the bird, or the 

 blind following of an impulse known only as instinct. 

 Because we are unable to find any protective colouration 

 in the plumage of a bird, its eggs or nest, we must not 

 conclude that such peculiarity is a mere accident or useless 

 decoration, for it either serves some wise end unknown to us, 

 or has done so in far past ages, and is perpetuated because 

 its possession is not distinctly harmful, and may at some 

 future date be again called into requisition against danger. 

 The extinction of nearly all birds whose existence is 

 reasonably well known has not been due to natural causes, 

 but to man or the influence his civilisation has introduced. 

 Nature never made such a mistake as the introduction of 

 rabbits and sparrows into Australia. They are two potent 

 forces turned loose into practically unrestricted space, with- 

 out any of their natural limiting influences. 



Protective Colouring of Birds. The protective 

 colour of the plumage of certain birds is the great source 

 of their safety during incubation. For instance, birds 

 which nidificate on the ground, such as Black and Red 

 Grouse, Pheasants, Partridges, and Sandpipers, all subject 

 to the depredations of winged and creeping enemies, are 

 preserved by the modification of their tints. The same 



