204 president's address. 



it is done by the gamekeeper simply in the belief that it is 

 part of his duty, and his employer as a rule knows so little of 

 bird life other than that which is expected to fall before his 

 gun, or is so indifferent to the preservation of anything other 

 than game birds, that he never troubles to interest himself in 

 the subject either one way or the other. 



If more effectual protection is not afforded to these and 

 other birds the country to all lovers of nature will lose one of 

 its greatest charms. 



Apart from gamekeepers there are other delinquents of an 

 even worse character — an excursion steamer used to run from 

 Sunderland to the Fame Islands, and the enjoyment of the 

 passengers consisted in blowing the young Guillemots and 

 Kittiwakes wholesale from the Pinnacles into the sea, the only 

 motive actuating these people being the desire to kill some- 

 thing. I haye stood on the Flamborough cliffs in the nesting 

 time and seen a pinnace with her name covered slowly pass 

 over the sea at the foot of the cliffs. On her deck were about 

 half-a-dozen men shooting down the nesting birds as fast as 

 their guns could be loaded and discharged. The craft never 

 once stopped to secure a specimen. They were left floating 

 on the sea, many of them to die a painful and lingering death. 

 A few years ago the Kittiwake was almost entirely destroyed 

 on the Flamborough cliffs, the skins being required by 

 milliners. I regret to learn that the revival of a similar 

 fashion has during my year of office resulted in the making 

 of one contract by a Bridlington man for the supply of no less 

 than 10,000 birds to a London firm. 



As a lawyer, and one deeply interested in ornithological 

 pursuits from a very early age, it was my intention to make 

 some observations on the various Acts of Parliament passed 

 for the protection of our wild birds and their eggs, but on 

 looking into these Acts and the various orders in Council 

 made under them I find the subject could not be fully dealt 

 with within the limits of this address. There are no less than 

 57 Statutes deahng with game and wild birds, commencing 

 13 Rich. II., St. I, c. 13, and ending with 59 and 60 Vic, c. 56 



