E(Utori(il. 3 



advantag-e of that body, and of natural history generally. His 

 favourite study is conchology — a branch of science greatly 

 needing more workers in the county at the present time. In 

 recognition of his researches amongst the moUusca he was 

 elected President of the Conchological Society. The well- 

 known 'Handbook of the Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire,' of 

 which he is joint author, was published in 1881, and is indis- 

 pensable to the student oi Nature situated in our greatest county. 



PRESERVATION, NOT DESTRUCTION. 



Tliere is no necessity to remind the readers of tliis journal 

 that a Naturalist is essentially a preserver of the fauna and 

 flora of his country, and that anyone in any way exterminating 

 or destroying- animal or plant life cannot claim that title. 

 When wholesale slaughter of mammal, bird, or insect takes 

 place, not merely to adorn the cabinet of the collector, and to 

 provide him with suitable exchanges, but purely for pecuniary 

 purposes, the perpetrator has certainly no claim to the name, 

 but should be styled ' slaughterer' of the very worst type. We 

 had hoped that the passing of the ' Wild Birds Protection Act, 

 1902,' recently referred to in these columns, together with the 

 efforts of the Society for the Protection of Birds, and various 

 field clubs, would have put a check to the slaug^hter of our 

 rarer wild birds, or at any rate would have prevented any 

 publicity being- made by dealers of their cruel, one might almost 

 say ' criminal,' ways. Yet this is not so. 



A SCARBOROUGH 'NATURALIST.' (?) ; 



A printed ' Price list of birds in the flesh for stuffing,' issued 

 by a Scarborough dealer who styles himself a 'Naturalist,' has 

 recently been placed in our hands. A more atrocious and bare- 

 faced document it would be difficult to imagine. It requests the 

 purchaser to order as early as possible, ' as many of the species 

 named are only obtained on migration,' and the 'Naturalist' will 

 do his best to procure any other species the purchaser mav 

 require. He also has a large stock of British birds' eggs in 

 clutches, with data, for which a special list is published. We 

 are further informed that ' all birds are clean, fresh, and in g-ood 

 condition, being sent per Parcel Post immediately after being 

 shot.' The list contains the names of no fewer than ninetv-four 

 British birds, nearly all of which are of rare occurrence, and not 

 one in the list deserves the fate of this ' Naturalist's' gun. 



1903 January 3. 



