This attitude is hopefully a last remnant of that exhibited by the
villain in Arthur Ransome's 1974 "Great Northern?", in which the young
hero, on a family yachting cruise in the Hebrides sketches both
Black-throated and Great Northern Divers in the field and notes that the
Great Northern are nesting - "not known to nest in the British Isles"
says his book.
At the next port of call, for confirmation he visits the motor yacht of
an expert, an egg and skin collector, whose reaction is that nest, eggs,
and birds must be collected, and HE will become famous for the
discovery, and is prepared to pay 100 pounds (1947 values!) to be shown
the nest site.
The villain, having raided the nest, ends up in the hands of the local
laird, and the eggs were returned to it successfully.
Ransome's description of the care taken and technique used to photograph
the nest and birds in the limited time available is excellent.
Brian Fleming
<HR>
<BR> Birding-Aus mailing list
<BR>
<BR> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
<BR> http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org
</HR>
|
