348 REPORT — 1873. 



(1) However much we may desire it, we cannot in practice stop the 



killing of some birds during the breeding-season : if we pass a 

 law totally prohibiting it, that law will either be evaded, or, if 

 enforced, will become so irksome as to be speedily repealed. 



(2) No law, to be eifectual, should pick and choose certain kinds of birds, 



leaving out nearly aUied kinds. 



(3) An effectual law, dealing with a whole group of birds, may be passed, 



as witness the highly successful ' Sea-Birds Preservation Act,' 



(4) A law protecting birds which cannot be shown to want protection 



is a mistake. 



(5) The crucial test of whether a bird wants protection or not, is whether 



its numbers are decreasing or the contrary. 



(6) With some very few exceptions (nearly each of which can be satis- 



factorily explained), none of what are commonly known as 

 " Small Birds " are decreasing throughout the United Kingdom 

 generally. 

 (/) Most "Small Birds" are generally increasing in numbers, some 

 remarkably so. 



(8) Setting aside " Sea-Birds," which may now be considered safe, no 



birds have so much diminished in numbers as " Birds of Prey" 

 and " Wild Fowl." 



(9) No law for the protection of " Birds of Prey," if passed, could be at 



present carried out. 



(10) A law protecting "Wild Fowl," if passed, could be carried out 



effectually, provided that the penalties are in proportion to the 

 inducement to break it. 



(11) "Wild Fowl" form a group subject to great persecution on account 



of their marketable value, especially as articles of food : they are 

 commonly kiUed (many of them because then more easily killed) 

 long after they have paired and have begun to breed ; they, be- 

 sides, lie under the same disadvantage as do the few " Small 

 Birds " which are decreasing — the diminution, namely, through 

 agricultural improvements, of their breeding-haunts : already 

 many kinds of " Wild Fowl," which a few years ago used to breed 

 frequently and regularly in this country, have ceased or nearly 

 ceased from doing so : they are perfectly innocuous ; consequently 

 " Wild Fowl " are eminently deserving of protection. 



(12) The principle of what has been called a "Black List," favoured by 



some persons, would be the most fatal step of all in Bird- 

 Protection, since it would discourage, if not entirely check, the 

 healthy feehng which is steadily, if not rapidly, growing in favour 

 of many birds which have long been persecuted. 



8. Your Committee respectfully urge that they may be reappointed. 



