THE DARTFORD WARBLER 239 



anxiety to have it forgotten that one of their name 

 had a part in the detestable business of depriving 

 the land of these wonderful and beautiful forms of 

 life — a life which future generations would have 

 cherished as a dear and sacred possession. 



But we cannot afford to wait : we have been 

 made too poor in species already, and are losing 

 something further every year ; we want a remedy now. 



So far two suggestions have been made. One 

 is an alteration in the existing law, which will allow 

 the infliction of far heavier fines on offenders. All 

 those who are acquainted with collectors and their 

 ways will at once agree that increased penalties 

 will not meet the case ; that the only effect of such 

 an alteration in the law would be to make collectors 

 and the persons employed by them more careful 

 than they have yet found it necessary to be. The 

 other suggestion vaguely put forth is that something 

 of the nature of a private inquiry agency should 

 be established to find out the offenders, and that 

 they should be pilloried in the columns of some 

 widely-circulating journal, a method which has been 

 tried with some success in the cases of other classes 

 of obnoxious persons. This suggestion may be dis- 

 missed at once as of no value ; not one offence in a 

 hundred would be discovered by such means, and the 



