THE PRESERVATION OF OUR FAUNA 193 



But why agonise our feelings with things of the past ? 

 The Sea-Birds Act, though repealed, as was the later 

 Wild- fowl Act of 1872, was, after many struggles, replaced 

 by a better and more sweeping measure, and all birds 

 are now protected. Are they ? It is just because what 

 Newton foresaw has taken place the substitution of a 

 nominally better Act with much wider scope, framed by 

 men who were either indifferent or not disinterested, has 

 failed in a great measure to preserve those species which 

 were most in danger. It is true to say that the Act of 

 1869, converted into that of 1880, has saved the kittiwake, 

 but it has not converted the sinners nor roused a better 

 spirit in the general public. Egg-snatching on the 

 Yorkshire cliffs is still a trade, and though under proper 

 regulations it would not do serious damage to the various 

 species which still nest there in large numbers, it has the 

 result of delaying the nesting period and turning the 

 young out at the end of the close season when still unable 

 to escape the guns of the " sportsmen/' I have seen hi 

 early autumn a boat load of immature kittiwakes and other 

 gulls brought in at Flamborough; I have seen young 

 loafers, men with money, no doubt, lounging about the 

 jetty at Knott End and shooting at every unfortunate 

 young gull or other bird which ventured within range. 

 " Would you stop the poor man's sport ?" is a common 

 cry; yes, and the rich man's too if he is endangering the 

 existence of a national asset. 



What happened with the Bill of 1872 is this: it was 

 made too all-embracing to be functionable. After a 

 British Association Close-time Committee had carefully 

 considered all points, the Bill was framed and passed 

 without consulting any real ornithologists. Newton, 

 writing to his brother, says: " Mr. Herbert, on the 2ist of 

 June last, laid a cuckoo's egg in the carefully built nest 

 of the British Association Committee, and the produce 



