Evan
There was a TV news item on Monday about National Bird day that featured an
original Gould League membership certificate (my wife remembered having
such a certificate when she was a girl). The certificate required the
member to undertake not to take bird eggs or lead bird egg collectors to
nests.
The collection of bird eggs is one of many hobbies that became popular in
the 18th and 19th century as western society became more interested in
natural history and other cultures. In fact, many museum collections have
their origins in just such collections. For example, in the 1970s, many
large Aboriginal stone artefact collections were bequeathed to museums with
the passing of the collectors. As with other collectors, egg collectors
catalogued and curated their collections and took part in trading, as well
as raiding nests, to build the biggest and best collection.
The book 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' describes several expeditions to collect
eggs not represented in the boys' collections. Interestingly, one of the
keen collectors also attempts to raise rescued fledglings!
The collection of eggs for obtaining and/or illegal export of protected
wildlife seems to be relatively recent development - perhaps as incubators
are more accessible and knowledge of getting native species to hatch
becomes more widespread. More traditional illegal collection of birds
involved taking fledglings from nests.
Like most of the collecting hobbies, bird egg collecting is definitely
dodgy and the Gould League's discouragement of the practice is still valid
today.
Regards
David
"Evan Beaver"
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Subject
30/10/07 11:48 AM [Birding-Aus] Egg Collectors?
Birders,
Now I'm treading carefully here, in an effort to better understand a
contraversial subject. Recently there was talk of a Painted HE nest
and the potential problems of disclosing this due to egg collectors.
Now, my question is this: What are egg collectors up to? Collecting
for export to hatch somewhere else? I would have thought this pretty
unreliable, keeping the egg alive. Do they actually collect the eggs
and catalogue them in some sort of collection? Either way it sounds
very dodgy and not at all to be encouraged. Unless of course they have
a penchant for Indian Mynah eggs.
EB
--
Evan Beaver
Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
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