Sea Birds Preservation Act 1869
Encyclopedia
The Sea Birds Preservation Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 17) was an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It was the first Act to protect wild birds in that country.

History

In 1868, Professor Alfred Newton
Alfred Newton
Alfred Newton FRS was an English zoologist and ornithologist.Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907...

 addressed the British Association for the Advancement of Science
British Association for the Advancement of Science
frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...

 on the "On the Zoological Aspect of the Game Laws". In particular, he urged for protection of birds of prey
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....

 and seabirds during the breeding season. The British Association appointed a committee to propose a close season. The committee consisted of Frank Buckland, Henry Eeles Dresser
Henry Eeles Dresser
Henry Eeles Dresser was an English businessman and ornithologist.Henry Dresser was born in Thirsk where his father was the manager of the bank which had been set up by his grandfather...

, William Bernhardt Tegetmeier
William Bernhardt Tegetmeier
William Bernhardt Tegetmeier was a noted English naturalist , a founder of the Savage Club, and a writer and journalist of domestic science....

 and Henry Baker Tristram
Henry Baker Tristram
The Reverend Henry Baker Tristram FRS was an English clergyman, Biblical scholar, traveller and ornithologist.Tristram was born at Eglingham vicarage, near Alnwick, Northumberland, and studied at Durham School and Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1846 he was ordained a priest, but he suffered from...

. James Edmund Harting
James Edmund Harting
James Edmund Fotheringham Harting was an English ornithologist and naturalist.-Biography:James Edmund Harting was the eldest son of James Vincent Harting and Alexine Milne Fotheringham. He was educated at Downside Abbey and the University of London and spent much of his youth traveling...

 was later co-opted onto the committee.

Newton's speech cited the destruction of seabirds on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

 and Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head is a promontory of on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, and the resistance it offers to coastal erosion may be contrasted with the low coast of Holderness to the south...

. Wide publicity of his speech led to public condemnation of the residents of Bridlington
Bridlington
Bridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season...

. Rev. Henry Frederick Barnes-Lawrence of Bridlington Priory
Bridlington Priory
Priory Church of St. Mary, Bridlington, , commonly known as Bridlington Priory Church is a parish church in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in the Diocese of York...

 held a meeting of local clergy and naturalists and formed the Association for the Protection of Sea-Birds. Barnes-Lawrence's Association had the support of Francis Orpen Morris
Francis Orpen Morris
Rev. Francis Orpen Morris , Irish ornithologist and entomologist, was notable as the author of many children's books and books on natural history and heritage buildings...

, William Thomson, Archbishop of York, and local MP Christopher Sykes
Christopher Sykes (MP)
Sir Christopher Sykes was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1892. He was a friend of Edward VII as Prince of Wales....

.

As with many animal welfare laws before 1900, the animals' safety was not the main reason for the act. Seabirds were useful to sailors to warn of land in bad weather. If a boat was in fog and the sailors could hear seabirds nearby then they would know that they were near land. If the population of seabirds declined then they would not have this early warning system.

The Act

It was introduced by Christopher Sykes (MP)
Christopher Sykes (MP)
Sir Christopher Sykes was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1892. He was a friend of Edward VII as Prince of Wales....

, Mr Clay and Mr Ward Jackson on behalf of the Association for the Protection of Sea-Birds. The act was designed to reduce the effects of shooting and egg collecting during the breeding season. It gave limited protection to "the different species of auk
Auk
An auk is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. Auks are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits...

, bonxie
Great Skua
The Great Skua, Stercorarius skua, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. In Britain, it is sometimes known by the name Bonxie, a Shetland name of unknown origin.-Description:...

, Cornish chough
Red-billed Chough
The Red-billed Chough or Chough , Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, is a bird in the crow family; it is one of only two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax...

, coulterneb
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured bill...

, diver
Loon
The loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia...

, eider duck
Common Eider
The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on...

, fulmar
Northern Fulmar
The Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, Fulmar, or Arctic Fulmar is a highly abundant sea bird found primarily in subarctic regions of the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceans. Fulmars come in one of two color morphs: a light one which is almost entirely white, and a dark one which is...

, gannet
Northern Gannet
The Northern Gannet is a seabird and is the largest member of the gannet family, Sulidae.- Description :Young birds are dark brown in their first year, and gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.Adults are long, weigh and have a wingspan...

, grebe
Grebe
A grebe is a member of the Podicipediformes order, a widely distributed order of freshwater diving birds, some of which visit the sea when migrating and in winter...

, guillemot
Guillemot
Guillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...

, gull
Gull
Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...

, kittiwake
Black-legged Kittiwake
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus....

, loon
Loon
The loons or divers are a group of aquatic birds found in many parts of North America and northern Eurasia...

, marrot, merganser
Mergus
Mergus is the genus of the typical mergansers, fish-eating ducks in the seaduck subfamily . The Hooded Merganser, often termed Mergus cucullatus, is not of this genus but closely related...

, murre, oyster catcher
Eurasian Oystercatcher
The Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus, also known as the Common Pied Oystercatcher, or just Oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae. It is the most widespread of the oystercatchers, with three races breeding in western Europe, central Eurasia,...

, petrel
Petrel
Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group...

, puffin
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured bill...

, razor bill
Razorbill
The Razorbill is colonial seabird that will only come to land in order to breed. It is the largest living member of the Auk family. This agile bird will choose only one partner for life and females will lay one egg per year. Razorbills will nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed...

, scout
Auk
An auk is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. Auks are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits...

, seamew
Common Gull
The Common Gull or Mew Gull Larus canus is a medium-sized gull which breeds in northern Asia, northern Europe and northwestern North America. It migrates further south in winter...

, sea parrot
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic Puffin is a seabird species in the auk family. It is a pelagic bird that feeds primarily by diving for fish, but also eats other sea creatures, such as squid and crustaceans. Its most obvious characteristic during the breeding season is its brightly coloured bill...

, sea swallow
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...

, shearwater
Shearwater
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds. There are more than 30 species of shearwaters, a few larger ones in the genus Calonectris and many smaller species in the genus Puffinus...

, shelldrake
Common Shelduck
The Common Shelduck is a waterfowl species shelduck genus Tadorna. It is widespread and common in Eurasia, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the Maghreb...

, skua
Skua
The skuas are a group of seabirds with about seven species forming the family Stercorariidae and the genus Stercorarius. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America....

, smew
Smew
The Smew is a small duck, which is somewhat intermediate between the typical mergansers and the goldeneyes . It is the only member of the genus Mergellus; sometimes included in Mergus, this genus is distinct and might actually be a bit closer to the goldeneyes...

, solan goose
Northern Gannet
The Northern Gannet is a seabird and is the largest member of the gannet family, Sulidae.- Description :Young birds are dark brown in their first year, and gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.Adults are long, weigh and have a wingspan...

, tarrock
Black-legged Kittiwake
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus....

, tern
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks...

, tystey
Black Guillemot
The Black Guillemot or Tystie is a medium-sized alcid.Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch, a thin dark bill, and red legs and feet. They show white wing linings in flight. In winter, the upperparts are pale grey and the underparts are white. The wings remain black with the large...

, willock
Common Guillemot
The Common Murre or Common Guillemot is a large auk. It is also known as the Thin-billed Murre in North America. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North-Atlantic and North Pacific...

".

See also

  • British Association for the Advancement of Science
    British Association for the Advancement of Science
    frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...

  • British Ornithologists' Union
    British Ornithologists' Union
    The British Ornithologists' Union aims to encourage the study of birds in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation....

  • Conservation biology
    Conservation biology
    Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...

  • Henry Eeles Dresser
    Henry Eeles Dresser
    Henry Eeles Dresser was an English businessman and ornithologist.Henry Dresser was born in Thirsk where his father was the manager of the bank which had been set up by his grandfather...

  • Game Act 1831
    Game Act 1831
    The Game Act 1831 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which was passed to protect game birds by establishing a close season when they could not be legally taken. The act also established the need for game licences and the appointing of gamekeepers...

  • James Edmund Harting
    James Edmund Harting
    James Edmund Fotheringham Harting was an English ornithologist and naturalist.-Biography:James Edmund Harting was the eldest son of James Vincent Harting and Alexine Milne Fotheringham. He was educated at Downside Abbey and the University of London and spent much of his youth traveling...

  • Francis Orpen Morris
    Francis Orpen Morris
    Rev. Francis Orpen Morris , Irish ornithologist and entomologist, was notable as the author of many children's books and books on natural history and heritage buildings...

  • Alfred Newton
    Alfred Newton
    Alfred Newton FRS was an English zoologist and ornithologist.Newton was Professor of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge University from 1866 to 1907...

  • Christopher Sykes (MP)
    Christopher Sykes (MP)
    Sir Christopher Sykes was an English Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1892. He was a friend of Edward VII as Prince of Wales....

  • William Bernhardt Tegetmeier
    William Bernhardt Tegetmeier
    William Bernhardt Tegetmeier was a noted English naturalist , a founder of the Savage Club, and a writer and journalist of domestic science....

  • William Thomson, Archbishop of York
  • Henry Baker Tristram
    Henry Baker Tristram
    The Reverend Henry Baker Tristram FRS was an English clergyman, Biblical scholar, traveller and ornithologist.Tristram was born at Eglingham vicarage, near Alnwick, Northumberland, and studied at Durham School and Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1846 he was ordained a priest, but he suffered from...


External links

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