4 British Birds, 



connection with the eggs, will almost always, with the 

 aid of a tolerably accurate and well illustrated Book 

 of Eggs, enable him to decide without hesitation as 

 to the real owner of the nests and eggs in question ; 

 while there are very many eggs, such as the Common 

 Wren's, those of one or more of the Tom-tits, the 

 Lesser Willow Wren, etc., of which specimens may be 

 found so nearly resembling one another in shade and 

 size and spots, that it requires a very nice and 

 experienced eye to allot the several eggs to their 

 certain origin. In such a case as this, recourse must 

 be had to some kind and experienced oologist. 



A few words on another subject. The author has 

 been gravely taken to task by some of his conscien- 

 tious friends, for delineating in one or two of his 

 former books the pleasures and excitements of egg- 

 hunting, or the satisfaction of trying to form a 

 methodical collection. He has been more than once 

 asked — "Do you really mean to encourage boys in 

 robbing birds' nests ? Can you defend such a practice 

 from the charge of cruelty ? " 



If I thought there was any real or necessary con- 

 nection between a love of egg-hunting — yes, and egg- 

 collecting, too, — and cruelty, I would not say another 

 word for it or about it. But I am sure that the real 

 lover of birds and their nests and eggs is not the boy 

 who is chargeable with those torn and ruined nests — 

 " destroyed " as they may well be styled — which 

 grieve one as he walks along the lanes and hedge 

 sides. If the nest is taken, or rudely and roughly 

 handled, or the eggs all plundered, there is cruelty : 

 for in the one case, the poor parent-birds are warned 



