THE DARTFORD WARBLER 259 



of previous bird protection Acts can arrest or 

 diminish that drain. Thirty years ago, when 

 the first Act was passed, which prohibited the 

 slaughter of sea-birds during the breeding season, 

 the drain on the bird life which is valued by 

 collectors was far less than it is now ; not only 

 because there are a dozen or more collectors 

 now where there was one in the sixties, but also 

 because the business of collecting has been 

 developed and brought to perfection. All the 

 localities in which the rare resident species may 

 be looked for are known, while the collectors 

 all over the country are in touch with each 

 other, and have a system of exchanges as 

 complete as it is deadly to the birds. Then 

 there is the money element ; bird -collecting is 

 not only the hobby of hundreds of persons of 

 moderate means and of moderate wealth, but, 

 Uke horse-racing, yachting, and other expensive 

 forms of sport, it now attracts the very wealthy, 

 and is even a pastime of millionaires. All this 

 is a famiMar fact, and clearly shows that without 

 such a law as I have suggested it has now become 

 impossible to save the best of our wild bird hfe. 

 The collectors will doubtless cry out that 



