May 15, 1913] 



NATURE 



!0 9 



visions, but employ trade agents and dealers to work 

 for them, and give heavy bribes to poorer men — men 

 in the responsible position of keepers and coastguards, 

 and also fishermen, shepherds, and others whose 

 ignorance and poverty render them ready cat's-paws. 

 The gamekeeper receives an intimation that a certain 

 firm of "naturalists" will be happy to hear from him 

 with regard to certain birds or eggs which may come 

 to his notice, and will give him handsome terms ; 

 possibly the owner of the estate inquires later on 

 whether a notable species which he was a little proud 

 to have on his land is still there, and is told that 

 it unfortunately attacked the chicks and had to be 

 shot, or, more simply, that it has " disappeared." 

 The crofter or the fisherman is told that the rich 

 visitor at the hotel gives a wonderful sum for such- 

 and-such eggs, which he hears are found on a neigh- 

 bouring islet or moor, or that he wishes to be taken 

 to see a nest, and will pay his guide well ; and in a 

 few years the bird has ceased to breed in that neigh- 

 bourhood. 



The creation of reserves has been advocated ; various 

 areas have been described in county council orders as 

 "protected," in which birds or eggs may not be taken. 

 But the creation of reserves or the definition of areas 

 will not in themselves check unscrupulous collecting. 

 For some years this society has, with the best results, 

 employed watchers to guard certain breeding-places 

 of rare birds. Some score of these are scattered over 

 Great Britain, from the Shetlands and Orkneys to 

 Sussex and Cornwall, and more will be employed as 

 the much-needed funds permit ; but the utmost care 

 has to be exercised in their appointment ; they must 

 have fair pay to protect them to some extent from the 

 temptation of bribes; and members of our watchers' 

 committee visit their stations from time to time to 

 inspect and judge actual results. Brean Down, of 

 which the society rents the shooting rights, we hope 

 to make a complete reserve for birds. It Is excep- 

 tionally well suited for the purpose, and cannot well 

 be visited without the knowledge of the watcher. 

 Dungeness is a "protected area" guarded by the 

 society's watchers during the breeding season. Yet 

 at Dungeness a collector took advantage of a permit 

 obtained by an unsuspicious friend to pocket all the 

 egg's he could seize upon ; followed by a watcher he 

 was compelled to disgorge and restore every one. 

 At Brean Down last spring the solitary young bird 

 was taken from the peregrine's eyrie; an honorary 

 watcher, discovering what had happened, pursued the 

 culprit by motor-car, obtained the bird, brought it 

 back to the down, and with considerable difficulty 

 restored it to the nest. 



On a protected island, a few seasons ago, per- 

 mission to view was again gained by stratagem, and 

 the visitor, closely followed, was at last impelled to 

 say that "it was a pity to leave such nice eggs," and 

 he would stand the consequences of taking them ; 

 the consequences happily worked out at if. per egg, 

 and the eggs were forfeited. In Scotland the society 

 has had to employ detective-inspectors, whose work 

 called for vigilant circumspection. In Wales the 

 kites' nests have to be guarded day and night. In 

 many cases the eggs of harriers, ravens, peregrines, 

 and other species are taken year after year, so that 

 no young bird is ever reared, and only the presence 

 of keen and determined watchers can stop this, or 

 prevent the destruction finally of the parent birds. 

 To the collector the idea of extermination of a species 

 can suggest no regret ; it would but add to the value 

 and interest of his specimen. 



Reserves and county council orders are admirable in 

 intention ; the latter are useful as affording possibility 

 of conviction and fine where offenders are caught in 



NO. 2272, VOL. 91] 



the act. But as deterrents they avail nothing for 

 persons of this class, and unless carefully worded may 

 indeed serve to advertise the presence of a rare 

 species. A law to deal with possession and the 

 possessor is now absolutely necessary, as well as a 

 strong public opinion which shall cause these col- 

 lectors to be held in the contempt they deserve and 

 shut them out from the society of decent naturalists. 

 One proposal as to the kind of law needed has been 

 made by Mr. W. H. Hudson ("Birds and Man," 

 chap, xii.) : — 



"There is really only one way out of the difficulty 

 — one remedy for an evil which grows in spite of 

 penalties and public opinion — namely, a law to forbid 

 the making of collections of British birds by private 

 persons. . . . Without such a law it has now become 

 impossible to save the best of our wild bird-life." 



The words are even more true now than when they 

 were written, and the time is more ripe for translating 

 them into action. The old idea that not only must 

 the ornithologist make collections, but that collections 

 make the ornithologist, is giving way before the 

 nature-reserve and the nature-student. But if the 

 nature-reserve and the prohibition to take rare birds 

 and rare eggs are to be more than a comfortable 

 delusion, the open advertisement and the secret cir- 

 cular, the open incentive and the secret bribe for 

 'procuring" specimens and for harrying nests, must 

 be put a stop to. The source and motive, the fons et 

 origo, of all these things is the private collection. 



L. Gardiner, 

 Secretary, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 



23 Queen Anne's Gate, London, S.W. 



Mechanically-formed Grikes in Sandstone. 



In the Lower Old Red Sandstone of the west of 

 Caithness I have noticed an appearance which recalls 

 the grikes due to erosion of which Mr. Carus-Wilson 

 writes in Nature of May 1. It is seen in the plat- 

 form of marine denudation in a minor inlet on the 

 north coast at the village of Reay, eleven miles west 

 of Thurso. The dip of the rocks varies from io° to 

 30 , averaging 17 , 10° west of north, and the low 

 scarps, lying transverse to the axis of the bay, run 

 down to the sea, giving rise to the tiny inlets locally 

 known as "ports," or "porties." 



At the harbour begins a thick sandstone, stretch- 

 ing in a southerly direction to a thickness of about 

 120 ft., which appears to pass laterally into the grey 

 and blue flags so prevalent in the area. Separated 

 from the main body of the sandstone by a flaggy 

 sandstone and blue flag is the thin sandstone in 

 which the " grikes " are seen. 



There does not seem to be any Iithological differ- 

 ence between the rock of the main body and that of 

 the layer with the "grikes." Both are grey sand- 

 stone, which weathers to a light reddish-brown colour, 

 and there is an appreciable amount of haematite pre- 

 sent surrounding the quartz grains which make up 

 the bulk of the rock. Felspars are fairly numerous 

 and fresh, and there are wisps both of muscovite and 

 biotite. The cement is largely micaceous, but calcite 

 is present, and there has been some deposition of 

 quartz from solution. The quartz grains are not well 

 rounded. 



The grooves are smaller than those Mr. Carus- 

 Wilson mentions ; the largest are about a foot deep 

 and four inches wide, but the length of the longest 

 is well over 16 ft. They run in two directions at 

 right angles, parallel to the dip and strike, and 

 the network is at places so fine that miniature stacks 

 stand out, about 4 in. square in section. 



As the place is about 40 yards below- the beach of 



