126 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



Because they were not wanted — because people 

 were such fools that they now preferred to shoot 

 at pigeons. He hated pigeons I Gentlemen used 

 to shoot starlings at matches; and if you had the 

 making of a bird to shoot at, you couldn't get a 

 better than the starling — such a neat bird! He 

 had caught hundreds — thousands — and had sold 

 them well. But now nothing but pigeons would 

 they have. Pigeons ! Always pigeons ! He 

 caught starlings still, but what was the good of 

 that? The dealers would only take a few, and 

 they were worth nothing — no more than green- 

 finches and yellow-hammers. 



My colloquy with my enemy on the common 

 tempts me to a fresh digression in this place — 

 to have my say on a question about which much 

 has already been said during the last three or 

 four decades, especially during the 'sixties, when 

 the first practical efforts to save our wild-bird life 

 from destruction were made. 



There is a feeling in the great mass of people 

 that the pursuit of any wild animal, whether fit 

 for food or not, for pleasure or gain, is a form 

 of sport, and that sport ought not to be inter- 



