109 
eating that a system of indiscriminate egging in our Broad district 
has been one of the main causes of tiie extermination of certain 
species. Again, altliough I regard any Act to protect small birds 
in this country during the nesting season (with some few excep- 
tions) as wholly uncalled for, the permitted robbery of their eggs, 
as hithei-to, s(iems to me an anomaly, since, unquestionably, the 
hedge-sparrow, thrush, blackbird, and others, sufier infinitely nioro 
from the egger than the gunner at that time of year ; nevertheless, 
in such cases, I should regret indeed to see the law set in force for 
the arrest of every thoughtless bird-nesting urchin in our rural 
districts, whose depredations should bo checked by other influences. 
Not so, however, on our broads and marshes, where the egg stealers 
are a vei-y different class. Men, who either trespass in search of 
eggs, or take advantage of their occupation, in likely localities, to 
Imnt for and secure them, well knowing their market value, and 
where best to dispose of them. A\hth the prices now offered by 
dealers for the eggs of the boarded tit, how can we look for an 
increase in that species by protecting the birds alone 1 Or if the 
nesting bittern escapes the gun, what marshman could resist the 
temptation (no penalty attaching to the act,) of securing its literally 
golden eggs. ^ 
d'he close time, as fixed under the present Act, extends from the 
Ihth day of March to the 1st of August, but whilst the 1st of 
IMarch, like the 1st of April, in the “Sea Birds’ Protection Act.” 
would have been easier to remember, and in accordance also witii 
the 1st of September and 1st of October, the commencement of 
partridge and pheasant shooting, it would have been none too soon 
to protect the earlier breeders ; and if, as I presume, one of the 
mam objects of the xVet as regards wild ducks, snipes, and Avood- 
cocks, is to encourage them to nest with us in larger numbers, then 
undoubtedly, the gunners’ privileges should cease with the very 
beginning of March. ^ 
The most serious alteration, however, if we compare the pro- 
visions of the original Wild Fowl Bill with those of the present 
Act, will bo found in the penal clauses, by which I fear, as they 
now stand, the Act itself will be rendered almost a dead letter 
In Mr. Johnstone’s bill, framed after the Sea Birds’ Act, and 
looking to the recognised market value of the birds inserted in the ' 
schedule, the penalties were equivalently assessed, and the offender 
