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uiulei a general contract, can be purchased cheaper at the London 
stalls than from country dealers. To a favoured few the precise 
localities Imm whence these birds have been sent may be confided, 
but to the ordinary enquirer they will be Dutch fowl, however 
much their trim unruflleil plumage may belie the fact. Xo incon- 
siderable number, also, of the birds killed during the spring 
months, find their way into private larder-s, and these must be 
taken into account as well as those that are exposed for public sale. 
\ ery many, also, that would otherwise remain to breed aie driven 
to other climes by constant disturbance. To a bill, therefore, so 
obviously needed, 1 can see little fear of opiiosition, and it is grati- 
fying to liiul all true spoi-tsnieii in favour of its provisions. Even 
the poulterers’ interests wouM be better served by an Act, which 
would ensure far larger supplies in due season. 
In the class of waders aiul wild fowl, however, it is not only for 
those most esteemed for the table that protection is sought, but for 
the Kedshanks, Kuffs, Eeeves, and Sandpipers of our marsh lands, 
and the Stone Curlew, Dinged Plover, and Lapwings of our heaths 
and warrens, the attractiveness of these to the eye and ear alike, in 
their several haunts, forming the best plea for their preservation. 
Notably amongst these the Duffs and Deeves, once so plentiful in 
this county, are now limited to a few pairs in one neighboilrhood 
only, whilst the Avocet, the Black Tern, and the Black Tailed 
Godwit, have all within the last half-century become extinct in 
our marshes, and, sad to relate, from preventible causes. It is 
time, indeed, that some steps were taken to avert further losses ; 
and, locally speaking, I could wish that the Bittern had appeared 
in the list of protected species, this once familiar denizen of our 
fens and broads, though extinct for some yeai-s, having recently 
shown an inclination to become once more a resident. Xow it is 
the preservation of such birds as these that most nearly affects 
ourselves, as naturalists, since from collectors comes the' demand 
that fills our game dealers’ and bird stuffers’ shops with the finest 
specimens in summer plum;ige. So long as tempting sums are 
offered, we cannot wonder that gunners should be keen in pursuit, 
or that the Great C’rested Grebe, the Dufl’, and the Gargany Teal 
C 
