The Common-sense of Bird Protection. 37


suffer in the least during importation, and bird-dealers should be

compelled to treat their birds well. It is however a mistake to

imagine that birds, during importation, require to be housed in

large roomy cages,; on the contrary, they often arrive in better

condition, and suffer less from the variable temperature, if

somewhat “ closely packed,” so long as due attention is paid to

cleanliness, food and water.


The subject of cabinet collecting is one that is somewhat

difficult to deal with. Strict protectionists would never have a

bird killed under any pretence, which, of course, is absurd.

Unfortunately, however, the rarer a species becomes the more is

it sought after by collectors, or dealers who know they will find

a ready sale for every specimen they can procure. We fail to see

any excuse whatever for collecting the few remaining specimens

of a vanishing species to enrich cabinet collections, at any rate

until every effort to preserve the species has failed. A species

once exterminated is gone for ever, and the existence of a few

dried skins in museums is poor consolation for the loss of the

living birds. What right has man to wipe out of existence a

species which he can never re-establish ?


There is, however, in the present writer’s opinion, an

excuse for collecting many of the small birds which pass our

shores on migration. Such species could hardly be identified

beyond dispute unless tliey^ were actually shot and examined in

the flesh by a qualified ornithologist; and, by the collection of

such, our knowledge of migration and geographical distribution

has been largely increased. Moreover the birds are those which

merely use our shores as a stepping-stone on the autumn

migration. If some of these were not collected very valuable

records would be lost to science, records which have taught us

much about geographical distribution and the way in which

Eastern forms have a tendency to extend their range west¬

ward.


Of course the collecting of birds in foreign lands, whose

natural history is little known, is deserving of all encouragement,

provided that a reasonably limited number of each species is

obtained, for by this means alone can the avifauna of a country

be properly studied.



