BIRDS AND MAN 



CHAPTER I 



BIRDS AT THEIR BEST 



By Way of Introduction 



Years ago, in a chapter concerning eyes in a book 

 of Patagonian memories, I spoke of the unpleasant 

 sensations produced in me by the sight of stuffed 

 birds. Not bird skins in the drawers of a cabinet, 

 it will be understood, these being indispensable to 

 the ornithologist, and very useful to the larger class 

 of persons who without being ornithologists yet 

 take an intelligent interest in birds. The unpleasant- 

 ness was at the sight of skins stuffed with wool and 

 set up on their legs in imitation of the living bird, 

 sometimes (oh, mockery !) in their " natural sur- 

 roundings." These " surroundings " are as a rule 

 constructed or composed of a few handfuls of earth 

 to form the floor of the glass case — sand, rock, clay, 

 chalk, or gravel ; whatever the material may be it 

 invariably has, like all " matter out of place," a 



A 1 



