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The Country Gcntlcmaiis Magazine 



moil egg should be hatched ; but, on the 

 other hand, did nature ever contemplate 

 that what was once a sport would become 

 a business, and that every grouse would be 

 shot? As there are "sermons and ser- 

 mons," so there are shooters and shooters. 

 One shooter is a sportsman, another is a 

 bird-butcher, who takes a moor and clears 

 it of every living thing. Bird murder is, 

 however, attracting attention, and men are 

 beginning to know that even our sparrows 

 have their proper mission. " Kill off your 

 sparrows and so increase your caterpillars," 

 is pretty much what would express the result 

 of the kind of small bird murder which has of 

 late been advocated by some people. Farmers, 

 for instance, ought never to grumble at the 

 presence of " peesweeps ; " they are the most 

 indefatigable of all farm labourers, and work 

 hard both night and day in the destruction of 

 turnip-fly, grubs, wire-worms, slugs, cater- 

 pillars, &c. A few of these birds are of more 

 vilue to our arable land farmers than an 



army of young ducks ; they do their work so 

 cleanly and expeditiously. 



" But where is your advocacy to end ? " 

 we hear some one say ; " how far do you go ?" 

 Our reply is, that we just go as far as our 

 going would aid nature, and no further. We 

 are not willing, for instance, to allow the bull 

 trout to exterminate the salmon, nor are we 

 willing that too long a close time for these 

 fish should be allowed. If it could be shewn 

 that salmon multiplied too rapidly, and that 

 they died for want of living room or for lack 

 of food, then the open time should be ex- 

 tended. As regards grouse, there can be no 

 doubt that the account is being overdrawn ; 

 and if gull murder goes on at the rate that 

 lias been indicated, that useful bird will very 

 soon be numbered among the extinct animals 

 of Scotland. Nature regulates her own affairs 

 so well that we must be chary in our inter- 

 ference ; at any rate, if we interfere in an 

 injudicious way we shall have ourselves to 

 thank for whatever consequences may follow. 



THE VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF ABYSSINIA. 



BY W. B. HEMSLEY, FORMERLY ASSISTANT IN THE HERBARIUM OF THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



AT a time when so much interest is still 

 concentrated upon Abyssinia, a few 

 words on its vegetable productions may 

 be acceptable. In the following notes I have 

 endeavoured to condense as much information 

 as possible in a few sentences, so I shall not 

 apologise for the disjointed character of their 

 composition. It is now nearly a century since 

 Bruce returned from Abyssinia, after an 

 absence of about six years, and enlightened 

 the world considerably on the history, geo- 

 graphy, and zoology, and, to a certain extent, 

 on the botany also of that part of the world ; 

 but his imperfect knowledge of the art of 

 describing plants renders his descriptions 

 useless, except those accompanied by plates. 

 The plates, however, are excellent for the 

 period. Since then, numerous English, 



French, and German travellers have visited 

 that country, and, thanks to their exer- 

 tions, we are now tolerably well acquainted 

 with its botany. The flora of tropical Africa 

 generally is not of that profusely abundant 

 and luxuriant character prevalent in most 

 tropical countries. In the mountainous 

 regions, however, on both the eastern and 

 western coasts, forests of considerable extent, 

 and grassy uplands, exist where vegetable 

 life is rich and varied. Trees of surprising 

 magnitude, and flowers unsurpassed in bril- 

 liancy, are met with; and vegetable anomalies 

 and curiosities are nowhere more abundant. 

 The vast sandy plains intervening, are here 

 and there enlivened by the presence of clumps 

 of strange looking, gouty-stemmed dwarf 

 trees, bulbous-rooted and succulent plants, 



