Land and Water gives an extraordinary account of the destruc-
tion going on among sea-birds. On a strip of coast eighteen miles long near Flamborough Head 107,250 birds were destroyed by pleasure parties iu four months, 12,000 by men who shoot them for their feathers, and 79,500 young birds who died of starva- tion in the emptied nests. Commander Knocker, there stationed, who reports these facts, saw two boats loaded above the gunwales with dead birds, and one party of eight guns killed 1,100 birds in a week. So great is the demand for plumage to brighten ladies' dresses, that thousands of birds are killed every day, and cock pheasants are flayed before cooking. The poor sea-birds ought at least to be let alone while bringing up their young, and ultimately there must be a "close time " to the whole feathered race. Law alone can preserve them from destruction by their inferiors.
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