PKOTECTION OF AREAS 151 



and period, should be stuck up at the boundaries, as 

 many as may be wanted. 



I don't at all want to see these preserved places 

 made too numerous ; and, though I have little faith in 

 County Councils, I believe they would not care to act 

 except on requisition from competent persons ; but if the 

 principle on which the Bill is drawn is allowed to stand 

 I can see no end to their absurdities, and yet none would 

 be convicted but ignorant schoolboys who were taking 

 Thrushes', Robins', Chaffinches' and other common 

 birds' eggs ; for those are just the birds that would be 

 named by County Councillors, being all they have ever 

 heard of. 



The mercantile collector who does what mischief is 

 really done in the case of rare or expiring species would 

 always get off ; for he would insist on proof being given 

 that the egg in question was that of one of the prohibited 

 birds, and would be able to puzzle any ordinary (or even 

 expert) witness by exhibiting other eggs not to be dis- 

 tinguished from it, so that no bench could convict. 



Another point on which I lay much stress is being 

 able to implicate any one conveying anybody else to a 

 reserved place with intent, etc. This would make boat- 

 men and " trap " drivers very cautious about strangers 

 of whom they knew nothing ; and there is no pro- 

 vision for demanding names or detaining suspected 

 delinquents. 



I will not bore you further, and trusting that you will 

 give the matter your attention, 

 I remain, 



Yours very truly, 



ALFRED NEWTON. 



At the annual meeting of the Society for the Protec- 

 tion of Birds, February, 1894, Newton commented on the 

 Bill of the previous year and expressed the opinion that 

 if it had been carried, one of the " most useless and mis- 

 chievous measures would have been added to the 

 Statute Book." He then proceeded to give his 



