THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 405 



AVhat a great number of young birds must have gone out 

 into the world from that place. The policy pursued by Mr. 

 Minot may serve as a model for the protection of a colony 

 of small birds, and, if followed faithfully elsewhere, it ought 

 to have the same gratifying results. Having undertaken a 

 portion of the management of creation by introducing and cul- 

 tivating strange plants and trees, and destroying the larger 

 wild animals and the Eagles, Hawks, and Owls which for- 

 merly helped to keep Crows, Jays, snakes, squirrels, and 

 other predatory creatures in check, we must not now shirk 

 the responsibility that rests upon us to proteqt the timid and 

 defenceless birds which we have left exposed to their increas- 

 ing enemies. But, if we accept the burden of protecting 

 birds, we must exercise our power with wise discretion. It 

 should not be inferred, for instance, if a gray squirrel de- 

 stroys the young of a pair of Robins, that this is a habit with 

 all gray squirrels. Those who have large estates, on which 

 they can protect birds and game, are particularly fortunate 

 if they have in their employ keepers who can intelligently 

 discriminate in such matters ; otherwise, serious mistakes 

 may be made. Millais, in his magnificent work on British 

 surface-feeding Ducks, relates that in 1884 Brown-headed 

 Gulls began to increase in the bog at Murthly. The keeper 

 said that the Gulls were killing young Teal. Another ex- 

 perienced keeper suggested that this was probably the work 

 of a single Gull. The Gulls were watched, a pair of birds 

 were seen together, one of which began to kill ducklings. 

 Both birds were shot, and no more ducklings were killed that 

 year. In 1890 another pair of Gulls began killing young 

 Teal ; sixteen were found dead. The two culprits were shot, 

 and no more young Teal were killed that season. Millais 

 considers that individual Gulls are as dangerous to young 

 Ducks as any of their numerous enemies ; and yet probably 

 only two, or at the most four, of the large number at the bog 

 were actually doing the killing.^ Had not the gamekeeper 

 been an intelligent observer, a hundred innocent Gulls might 

 have been shot, and the guilty birds might have escaped to 



1 Nevertheless, observers agree that the habits of bird-killing and egg-eating 

 are quite general among certain species of Gulls. 



