it struck me that I might appropriately draw your attention on 
the present occasion to tlie efforts made during the last few years to 
secure protection, in the breeding season, for certain classes of birds ; 
more particularly as the 2 )reservation of indigenous species should 
bo a primary object of all natural history societies. You will pro- 
bably remember that in 18G9, through the exertions of the “ Sea 
Birds’ Ih’otection Association,” and under the auspices of a Sub- 
committee, appointed by Section D. of tlie British Association, an 
Act was passed witli tliat sjiecial object, whose penal clauses were 
framed to prevent the extinction of the various species which from 
time immemorial have freciuented the rock-girt shores of the United 
Kingdom, for nesting jmrposes. This class of birds, including 
various kinds of gulls, with their close neighbotirs, the gulleniots, 
jjuffins, razorbills, and other rock fowl of tlie same j)recipitous 
coastlines, were gradually becoming exterminated. The yearly 
gathering of their eggs by adventurous rock climbers had had little 
or no effect upon their numbers, nor the occasional visits of col- 
lectors to procure specimens for natural history purposes ; but so 
soon as railway communication was opened between the ^Midland 
Counties and^ the sea, whether at Flamborough and Bridlington in 
the N orth, or at Eastbourne and Beachy Head in the South, a war 
of extermination was commenced by “ excursionist” gunners against 
this harmless, and, as I shall presently shew, in one respect, at 
least, invaluable class of wild fowl. The birds thus shot down, 
during the summer months, oflP the Yorkshire coast alone, have 
been comjnited by Commander H. H. Knocker, K.X., one of the 
chief promoters of that bill, at upwards of 100,000, “ not for pur- 
poses of trade, but by pleasure seekers only.” If to this amount 
we add the number of unhappy nestlings, suddenly deprived of 
parental care, and left to perish b}’’ a far more cruel, because lincrer- 
ing, death, we need scarcely wonder that in time such a system 
causetl a perceptible diminution in their numbers. But, though in 
the first instiinco their pei’secutors accomplished their destruction 
for mere sport and ixastime, leaving the worthless bodies to float 
to shore with the tide, the plume mania of the last few years added 
a fresh incentive to their pursuit ; and whilst “ contracts were 
