244 BIRDS AND MAN 



point : Where, in collecting, does the honourable 

 man draw the line, and sternly refuse to enrich his 

 cabinet with a long-wished-for specimen of a rare 

 British species ? — a specimen " in the flesh," not 

 only " British killed " but obtained in the county ; 

 not killed wantonly, nor stolen by some poaching 

 rascal, but unhappily shot in mistake for some- 

 thing else by an ignorant young under-keeper, who, 

 in fear of a wigging, took it secretly to a friend at a 

 distance and gave it to him to get rid of. The story 

 of the unfortunate killing of the rare bird varies in 

 each case when it has to be told to one whose standard 

 of morality is very high even with regard to his hobby. 

 My experience is, that where there are collectors 

 who are men of means, there you find their parasites, 

 who know how to treat them, and who feed on their 

 enthusiasms. 



In my rambles about the country during the last 

 few years, I have neglected no opportunity of con- 

 versing with land-owners and large tenants on this 

 subject, and, with the exception of one man, all those 

 I have spoken to agreed that owners generally — 

 not nine in every ten, as I had put it, but ninety-nine 

 in every hundred — would gladly welcome a law to 

 put down the collecting of British birds by private 

 persons. The one man who disagreed is the owner 



