PREFACE. vii 



they are dropped into the nest by their layers. 

 When the eggs of any species reach an at- 

 tractively high figure in dealers' catalogues, it is 

 a gloomy day for its slender band of representa- 

 tives ; but what shall we say of the prospects when 

 a presumably rich collector deliberately places a pre- 

 mium upon its destruction, by giving 100 per cent, 

 more than the recognised market price, which was 

 all that he was asked for a clutch of eggs ? 



The Wild Bird Protection laws are very like 

 a beautiful padlock and chain, hanging useless on 

 a widely-opened stable-door which it is nobody's 

 business to lock ; and I have no hesitation in 

 saying that the only real good done in the United 

 Kingdom in the way of bird preservation, has been 

 accomplished by private effort. As such private 

 enterprise has now abundantly demonstrated in the 

 case of the Great Skuas, in Unst, where the birds 

 have doubled their numbers, instead of dwindling 

 away to extinction as was predicted, the Eider 

 Ducks at the Fame Islands, and the various 

 species, including the Lesser Tern, at Wells, in 

 Norfolk, absolute personal protection on the spot 

 is the great desideratum. Further, I am per- 

 suaded that nearly all true collectors (i.e. men 

 who will not own a single egg they have not 

 taken and properly identified themselves) would 

 help rather than hinder any really practical 

 attempt at protection. I have been told by some 

 that they are influenced by reflections of the 

 following character, when they find a rare bird's 

 nest: "Well, if I don't take this clutch, Brown 



