COUNTRY -LIFE
THE annual report of the Royal Society , for the Protection of Birds makes it quite plain that the greatest enemies of our rarer birds, are the THE annual report of the Royal Society , for the Protection of Birds makes it quite plain that the greatest enemies of our rarer birds, are the
•
egg-collectors. only, rhe rare clutches are valuable, whether in money or estimation, so valuable that paid emissaries are sent forth to find them— often to remote places. Doubtless harm is also done by fingers too quick on the trigger and even by photographers who believe, like Clough, that " great is juxta-position." But the egg-collector—and he is concerned only with the full clutch—is the prime enemy of golden eagle, avocet, phalarope, oriole and the rest. A number of charming birds—ruff per- haps and kite—have seemed to be on the point of establishing themselves as breeding birds and have been scared off by the robbers. Egg-collecting is a pleasant and venial hobby that may claim to have scientific uses, but all the very rare birds should be exempt from the collector. What a battle it has been to preserve the avocet, now happily well established! .In regard to this, collectors have reached the limit.in special pleading. They have argued that the fewness of the hatched offspring has been due to " over-preservation "! To one rare species the weather proved a worse enemy than the collector : the bearded tit was virtually wiped out ; but already it has begun multiplying again in some favourite East, Anglian haunts.
Previous page
