72 GAME PRESERVERS AND BIRD PRESERVERS. 



they are doing the greatest amount of mischief ; 

 and you cannot protect useful birds in a better 

 way than by destroying their destroyers.' They 

 return to the rocks upon which they breed to 

 roost many weeks before they lay, but it is 

 weary work waiting for them. No keeper cares 

 to attempt it for the sixpence he gets for them 

 simply as a hawk. You must be hid early in the 

 afternoon, as they may return early, but it may 

 not be until sunset, and then perhaps only to 

 settle just out of shot, and if you move to get 

 nearer they are off for that day. A pair which 

 bred on a lonely little island used to return so 

 high as to be scarcely visible ; then, closing 

 their wings, they would fall like stones till they 

 reached their favourite rocks. About a week 

 before they hatch the hen will sometimes sit so 

 close that she will not leave the nest unless a 

 shot is fired. We knew one sit on the nest and 

 scream at us as we clapped our hands within 

 thirty yards, but she would not fly. 



' Inconveniently numerous ! ' What a curious 



