The evidence is less obvious, but I think that a
good many other species of the rarer birds, both big and small, are more numerous than they were : Montague Harriers, Hen Harriers, kites, choughs, crossbills, woodlarks, and Dartford Warblers— to go no further. By far the worst enemy is the collector. It is amazing what prices are given for less common eggs-130 and £40, for example, for some not extremely rare clutches. The unfortunate detail in the traffic is that the collectors set value on complete clutches—not on single eggs—and compete with one another to find clutches that have some little peculiarity or salience in the nature of the markings. The result is that a man is not content with even a dozen eggs of one species. He goes on trying to obtain other nestfuls which contain one more egg or vary in type in some small detail apparent only to the specialized oologist. Many oologists are of course ardent preservers ; but their ban is not so directed against the crime of taking and possessing protected clutches, if it is committed with sufficient secrecy. The greatest injury is done by those who continue their raids late in the year, when the birds have too little time to make a second nest.
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