Protection of Wild Life in Yorkshire. 187 
are shot on sight, In the Weekly Post of December 6th there 
is reference to a visit of a Buzzard at Bolton Abbey with the 
naive statement that he keeps well away from the man who 
wants to shoot him. Why should an attempt be made to 
destroy him ? he will do no harm and should be left at peace. 
The folly of including many rare birds in the list of Yorkshire 
birds is responsible for much of this destruction. Why, because 
a bird has once been seen and shot in the county (the American 
Passenger Pigeon as an absurd example) it should be classed 
as a Yorkshire bird, is beyond my comprehension. If a rare 
or unusal bird appears, it is at once shot, the excuse being, 
unless the shooter is also a collector, ‘I did not know what it 
was.’ If this is the case, why not let it go in peace? It 
does not follow, of course, that because a bird has only been 
obtained once, that it is the only occasion it has appeared in 
the county. Thousands may have visited us and passed on 
undetected. 
Last autumn a pair of Peregrine Falcons was shot by a 
party of sportsmen on a moor near an ancient eyrie in York- 
shire. The usual statement was afterwards made, ‘ We did 
not know what they were or we would not have shot them.” 
If all birds were understood to be protected and the killing of 
them illegal, it would stop a lot of this senseless slaughter. 
As a contrast to this last action I may mention that an Osprey 
frequented the neighbourhood of the lake at Scampston 
recently. He was not disturbed, and after resting some days, 
passed on his way. An example of the eastern Black-eared 
Wheatear was seen, for the first time in Yorkshire on the 
Cleveland Moors in June of this year. I understand that an 
application was made to the owner of the estate, asking per- 
mission to shoot it for scientific purposes. It is a great pleasure 
to be able to say that the answer to this request was a prompt 
and decided refusal. I do not want to dwell too much upon 
this subject, it is not a pleasant one, but I should like to 
suggest an antidote for this craze of destroying rare birds. 
It is not a nasty one like many medicines which are given to 
cure a disease, and the collecting mania is a disease, but a 
very pleasant one. It is to take up the practice of photography 
in connection with the study of the habits of wild things. It is 
an almost absolute cure for the other state. Many years ago 
I used to do a bit of collecting myself, although I was never 
very keen about it, always having a distaste for taking the life 
of beautiful creatures, I found that when I started photo- 
‘ graphing, and I believe I was about the first to take to the 
practice seriously, all desire for collecting passed away, and 
many of my friends, kindred spirits, who were formerly more 
or less fond of the gun, confess to the same result. They have 
now no desire to take the life of any wild creature. The 
1916 June 1. 
