x PREFACE. 



themselves. Broadly speaking, all wild birds are 

 the property of the State as species, and no man 

 has the right to kill or rob the last representatives 

 of a single one in danger of extermination. Modern 

 conditions of life seem to have rendered it neces- 

 sary that the same power that houses and takes 

 such excellent care of our dead birds for the 

 edification of the public, should also make some 

 practical effort to conserve such of our living ones 

 as are in danger of banishment. In the first 

 place, a steadily growing interest in British birds 

 and their habits amongst all classes of the com- 

 munity, has established a claim to some small 

 national expenditure in order to protect a source 

 of pleasure to the many, against the wanton 

 rapacity or thoughtlessness of the few. And in 

 the second, our islands are so small and travelling 

 facilities so great, as to enable nearly all who 

 take an intelligent interest in our country's birds 

 to visit even the rarest of them in their native 

 haunts living, loving, and labouring at home 

 amidst their natural surroundings. 



I would humbly suggest that instead of print- 

 ing and posting lists, pretending to protect birds 

 that do not in many cases need protection at all, 

 we should select a dozen species, admitted by a 

 committee of practical ornithologists to be most 

 in danger, and afford them effective personal pro- 

 tection daring the whole of the breeding season, 

 by placing reliable watchers night and day upon 

 their nesting-grounds. 



Sportsmen are often the gratuitous recipients of 



