Bird Wardens
The excellent association of Bird Watchers and Wardens, founded last year, has its centre at the Black Cabin, South Wooton, Kings Lynn. Since I last referred to its good work it has been accused of excessive sentimentality ; and it may serve a good purpose to publish just what the creed of the society is and is not. " We are entirely in favour," says a leading member, " of the collection of the eggs and skins of British birds so long as this is confined to birds which are not on the danger list, and as it is carried out only for museums and for educational purposes. We have no particular grievance against the moderate collector, the man who is content with one clutch of each species and who would not take the eggs of those species which are in need of special protection. We also have no grievance against schoolboys, because, as a rule, they only take the eggs of common birds and do no real harm, and collecting eggs often gives them their first love of nature. It is a well-known fact that if a pair of birds are persistently robbed of their eggs they will lay over and over again until at last their supply of pigment is exhausted and they will produce a clutch of completely white eggs. This is well known to the egg-collectors and they persist in this practice in order to get freak eggs for their collections." It is, I believe, on record that one oologist was accorded a special medal because he robbed a pair of bn772rds so persistently for nine successive years that the hen finally laid a pure white clutch, doubtless her final effort !
W. BEACH THOMAS.
Previous page
