312 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



pensable. It is far more important to protect 

 his rights than to protect those of the sports- 

 man; for the serious work of the collector is 

 necessary in order to prevent the scientific 

 study of ornithology from lapsing into mere 

 dilettanteism indulged in as a hobby by men 

 and women with opera-glasses. Moreover, 

 sportsmen also have their rights, and it is folly 

 to sacrifice these rights to mere sentimentality 

 — for, of course, sentimentality is as much the 

 antithesis and bane of healthy sentiment as 

 bathos is of pathos. If thoroughly protected, 

 any bird or mammal would speedily increase 

 in numbers to such a degree as to drive man 

 from the planet; and of recent years this has 

 been signally proved by actual experience as 

 regards certain creatures, notably as regards 

 the wapiti in the Yellowstone (where the prime 

 need now is to provide for the annual killing 

 of at least five thousand), and to a less extent 

 as regards deer in Vermont. 



But as yet these cases are rare exceptions. 

 As yet with the great majority of our most in- 

 teresting and important wild birds and beasts 

 the prime need is to protect them, not only by 

 laws limiting the open season and the size of 

 the individual bag, but especially by the crea- 

 tion of sanctuaries and refuges. And, while 



