BRITISH ASSOCIATION REPORTS. 389 



ice, but seldom more. WeddelFs false Sea-leopard was very rare, 

 only four of them having been seen. The creamy-white Seal and 

 pale mottled grey ones were in greatest abundance : these were 

 found in fours, fives, or even tens — the greatest number seen on 

 one piece was forty-seven. On one occasion some Seals were 

 found on a tilted berg ; so high was the ledge above the water- 

 level that a man with difficulty clambered up and secured the 

 prey. This illustrates their great power of jumping from the 

 water on to the ice. They were seen rising about nine feet above 

 water, and cover distances of fully twenty feet in length. No 

 trace was seen of any Whale resembling the Bow-head or Green- 

 land Black Whale {Balcena mysticetus), which Boss reported to 

 have seen in very great numbers. There were, however, Hump- 

 backs, Finners, Bottle-noses, and Grampuses. 



Protection of Wild Birds' Eggs. — - Under the presidency of 

 Prof. Newton, in the absence of Canon Tristram through illness, 

 Dr. C. Vachell presented the report of a Committee on the 

 " Legislative Protection of Wild Birds," which ran as follows : — 



Your committee beg leave to report that early in the present session, 

 a Bill to amend the Wild Birds Protection Act, 1880, was brought into 

 the House of Commons by Sir Herbert Maxwell, M.P., and others, and 

 that on April 13th it was ordered by the House to be printed. There- 

 upon your committee gave this Bill their careful attention, and found 

 that its main clause contained a provision for the protection of wild 

 birds' eggs. In the opinion of your committee, however, this provision 

 was framed on a principle that appears to them to be mistaken, in that 

 it sought to effect the desired object by empowering local authorities to 

 name the species the eggs of which were to be protected, thus requiring 

 in every case of prosecution proof of identity, which in the majority of 

 cases would be difficult, if not impossible, to supply. Nevertheless, the 

 Bill met with favourable acceptance in the House of Commons, and 

 with some very trifling alterations only, and without any discussion of 

 its principle, passed the third reading, and was sent up to the House of 

 Lords on May 2nd. In the House of Lords the chief objection to the 

 Bill, which had already been observed by your committee, was, among 

 others, prominently brought forward by several speeches in a debate 

 on the second reading, June 14th, and accordingly a series of amend- 

 ments were introduced and carried when the Bill was in Committee, 

 on June 16th. In almost every point these amendments, and especially 

 one that provided that protection should be given to birds which most 

 required it, by empowering local authorities to name areas in which for 



