2 ON THE SEA-BIRDS PRESERVATION ACT, 



That year I do not think any young Cormorants got away, as, 

 late in July, this species all had recently laid eggs, many nests 

 having only one egg, and not a young bird was to be seen. Several 

 young Terns were flying, but there were still plenty of Terns' 

 eggs. Probably many of these, in consequence of the lateness 

 of the season, would never be hatched, and if they were, the 

 old birds would very likely forsake the young before they arrived 

 at sufficient age to take care of themselves, as the old birds of 

 some species seem to leave their breeding grounds at a fixed 

 time, probably to get to some other locality in time to moult or 

 for some other reason we do not understand. The consequence 

 of the destruction of the eggs is, that the birds do not hatch 

 their young at the time Nature intended they should, and their 

 season is altogether disarranged. 



We saw no young Eider Ducks following the old females, many 

 of which were in flocks. I am quite willing to admit the gross 

 cruelty practised at these Islands by summer visitors, but the 

 worst part is perhaps not the shooting; the young birds are 

 wantonly destroyed, and in 1875 the grass on the Island inha- 

 bited by the Puffins was set on fire and many of the old birds, 

 as well as the young, were burnt in their holes. How is a repe- 

 tition of this to be prevented? In 1874 some young Black- 

 backed Gulls were not able to fly in September, and we saw at 

 that late season a young Eider Duck only recently hatched. 



During our visits to the Islands in 1875 we did not see the 

 Roseate Tern ; nevertheless it might be there amongst the num- 

 ber of birds and escape our observation, although this bird's cry 

 and flight make it conspicuous to any one knowing it. One of 

 the Outer Fames was frequented by the Arctic Terns, and one 

 of the Inner Fames by the Common Tern. 



Under the present law it would appear that the owners of land 

 have no more right to take the eggs on it except such as are espe- 

 cially protected by Acts of Parliament, than a stranger ; and I 

 li;iv<> been informed, that some years since the question about the 

 right or legality of taking the Fame Island eggs was put to the 

 test. Some men were summoned for taking them; they employed 

 a lawyer to defend them ; and when the case was to have come 



