230 BIED LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



with, the spread of good sense and the active propaganda of 

 such kindly leaders as the rector of Nunburnholm, sea and 

 land birds will receive due protection and recognition without, 

 we think, the naturalist and gunsman's modest and orderly 

 pleasures being infringed. 



In the new edition of " The History of Foreign Birds," 

 by Yarrel, the editor, a well-known member of the Zoo- 

 logical Society, writes thus : ' 



Laridce, p. 653. " The eggs are seldom laid until the 

 last week in June, so that -many of the young are still in the 

 nest or barely fliers when the Sea Birds' Protection Act 

 expires on the 1st of August. Some years ago, when the 

 plumes of birds were much worn in ladies' hats a fashion 

 which any season may see revived the barred wings of the 

 young kittiwake were in great demand for this purpose, and 

 vast numbers were slaughtered at their breeding haunts. At 

 Clovelly, opposite Lundy Island, there was a regular staff 

 for preparing the plumes, and fishing smacks, with extra 

 boats and crews, used to commence their work of destruc- 

 tion at Lundy Island by daybreak on the 1st of August, 

 continuing this proceeding for upwards of a fortnight. In 

 many cases the wings were torn off the wounded birds 

 before they were dead, the mangled victims being tossed 

 back into the water. The editor has seen hundreds of young 

 birds dead or dying of starvation in the nests. ... It is 

 well within the mark to say that at least nine thousand 

 of these inoffensive birds were destroyed in a fortnight." 



But those who like statistics of this kind ought to write 

 to the Selborne Society for a useful little pamphlet published 

 on the abuse of bird plumage as a means of adornment. 

 We do not attach very much importance to igures, for we 

 can judge for ourselves in the streets and shops of London, 

 Paris, New York, and other large cities and towns, what 

 must be the sacrifice of bird life ; nevertheless we give a 

 few items derived from various authentic sources. Between 

 December, 1884, and April, 1885, there were sold in one 



