all naturalists now felt in watching birds than in killing them; 
and he thought the Society was indebted to men like the brothers 
Kearton and others, who had shown in their books that far more 
pleasure could be found in photographing birds, and visualizing them 
in that way, than by killing them and putting them into collections. 
The mere fact of there being so many present that afternoon was 
a testimony to the work which this Society had done, and the in¬ 
creasing sympathy felt of late years with its objects. He thought 
that in regard to the protection of birds it must be done through the 
local authority, and where a local authority neglected its duties then 
they must bring the force of public pressure to bear upon it. He 
believed, however, that not only had County Councils, as a whole, 
taken a greater interest in the work, but year by year, almost 
month by month, they were making their regulations more strin¬ 
gent, and were really interested in the protection of birds. 
The Resolution was carried unanimously. 
The Chairman next called on Macleod of Macleod, the 
owner of St. Hilda, and therefore he was glad to say of the St. 
Hilda wren, to move the next resolution. 
Macleod of Macleod moved, “ That the ^Committee for the 
ensuing year, as printed on the accompanying paper, be elected.” 
Sir Edward Grey had told them that he happened to be the owner 
of the very interesting little island of St. Hilda, which they might 
have noticed had a paragraph to itself in the last one or two reports 
of this Society. The island was situated about 50 miles from any 
other land, out on the Atlantic on the north-west of Scotland, and 
was practically a rock on which large numbers of sea-fowl—countless 
numbers—bred. The point that interested the Society was this: 
When the Act for the Protection of Birds was passed, the island of 
St. Hilda was specially exempted, on the ground that the people 
earned their living by catching these sea-fowl. This was perfectly 
true. The population, 75 souls all told, did get their living this 
way, and no doubt the island should be exempted as regards these 
birds. But there were certain other birds which were very rare, 
and every year became rarer ; and under the Act as it stood now, 
there was no possible means of protecting them. The bird 
he specially alluded to was the St. Hilda Wren, which differed 
in a slight degree from the wren on the mainland. It was a 
beautiful little bird, and as of course there were not many of 
them, it really was a matter of very great interest that it should be 
protected. His factor who managed the island, and knew more 
* Note.—T he list of the Committee included the names printed on the first- 
page of the Annual Report, together with the following:—Hon. Mrs. Arthur 
Henniker, Rev. A. L. Hussey, M.A., Rev. J. E. Kelsall, M.A., H. A. Pajmter, 
Esq., Miss L. Pollock, Rev. Canon Rawnsley, and R. Boswortli Smith, Esq. 
