BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 125 



fvay of contrast to his own merciful temper, he 

 told me of the young nest-destroyer I have writ- 

 ten about. It made him mad to see such things! 

 Something ought to be done, he said, to stop a 

 boy like that; for by destroying so many nestlings 

 he was taking the bread out of the bird-catcher's 

 mouth. Passing to other subjects, he said that so 

 far he had caught nothing but linnets on the com- 

 mon — you couldn't expect to catch other kinds 

 in June. Later on, in August and September, 

 there would be a variety. But he had small hopes 

 of catching goldfinches, they were too scarce now. 

 Greenfinches, yellow-hammers, common buntings, 

 reed sparrows — all such birds were worth only 

 tuppence apiece. Oh, yes, he caught them just 

 the same, and sent them up to London, but that 

 was all they were worth to him. For young male 

 linnets he got eightpence, sometimes tenpence; 

 for hen birds fourpence, or less. I dare say that 

 eightpence was what he hoped to get, seeing that 

 young male linnets are not unfrequently sold by 

 London dealers for sixpence and even fourpence. 

 Goldfinches ran to eighteenpence, sometimes as 

 much as two shillings. Starlings he had made a 

 lot out of, but that was all past and over. Why? 



