3 



Shovellers bred here leave so soon as able to fly well certainly 

 the first severe frost scatters them all. 



I trust no great body of Englishmen in these enlightened times 

 will try to prevent foreigners sending the produce of their 

 country here, particularly such as birds coming to them during 

 their periodical migration ; such interference would appear to me 

 unjustifiable. The ducks are only taken by them so long as they 

 are in flocks ; so soon as they pair, and the flocks get broken up, 

 they cease to take them. Those taken are only a small portion 

 of the flocks passing to the north, which do not scatter and pair 

 before leaving the country, thousands never coming near the de- 

 coys at all. I do not think real wild ducks pair till near breed- 

 ing time, as you so often see flocks of Wigeon and Teal composed 

 almost entirely of one sex late in spring. 



C. M. ADAMSOX. 



[Our correspondent seems to have overlooked the fact that all 

 the wading birds, both resident and migratory, may be shot at 

 any time between July and February, when they are not only 

 more numerous, but in much better condition, than they are in 

 the spring. He is mistaken, too, in supposing that some of the 

 species he names do not breed here. See an article on British 

 Wildfowl in our naturalist columns. ED.] 



PRESERVATION OF WILDFOWL. 

 From the "Field," May 5th, 1877. 



SIB, I have to thank you for inserting my last letter. I feel I 

 am on the unpopular side of the question, but the right one. At 

 the same time I yield to no one in my desire to protect all birds 

 during the breeding season in moderation. What is wanted is 

 to put the matter on a right footing, giving no particular favour 

 to one class more than another. 



In your footnote you call my attention to the list of birds I 

 say never breed in England. I omitted Scotland, as I am aware 

 the Greenshank and Whimbrel breed there ; but as to the others, 



