244 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



so long as they respect "game." A partridge, and 

 probably a rabbit, is of more consequence to the 

 sportsman on the bench than a small, plain brown 

 bird, or than many linnets and goldfinches. The law, 

 we know, is effectual when it has a strong public 

 feeling on its side; the feeling is not yet universal 

 and nowhere strong enough, or as strong as bird- 

 lovers would wish it to be, but it exists and has been 

 growing during the last half a century, and that 

 feeling, supported by the improved laws which it has 

 called into being, is having its effect. This we know 

 from the increase during recent years in several of 

 the greatly persecuted species. The goldfinch is a 

 striking example. The excessive drain on this species, 

 one of the favourites of the lover of birds in cages, 

 had made it exceedingly rare throughout the country 

 twenty years ago, and in many counties it was, if 

 not extinct, on the verge of extinction. Then a turn 

 came and a steady increase until it had ceased to be 

 an uncommon bird, and if the increase continues at 

 the same rate for another decade it will again be as 

 common as it was fifty years ago. This change has 

 come about as a direct result of the Orders giving 

 it all-the-year-round protection, obtained by the 

 county and borough councils throughout the country. 

 The nightingale has not so increased, nor has it 

 increased at all; it is not so hardy a species, and 

 albeit an "immortal bird," and a "creature of 

 ebullient heart," it probably does not live nearly as 

 long as our brilliant little finch. Nor is it so prolific; 

 moreover it nests upon or near the ground at the same 



