28o ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



the dust of such artificialities from our souls. In such 

 moods, in these green shades, we are ready to echo 

 every grateful word ever spoken of those who for a 

 thousand years in a populous and industrial country, the 

 workshop of the world, have preserved for us so much 

 of Nature's freshness. Doubtless they did it for their 

 own advantage and pleasure, but incidentally the good 

 was for all. 



A young American naturalist, writing to me some 

 time ago, contrasted the state of things with regard to 

 the preservation of wild life in his and this country. 

 There, he said, the universal rage for destroying all 

 the noblest and most interesting species, and the liberty 

 possessed by every man and boy to go where he likes 

 and do what he likes in utter disregard of penal laws, 

 was everywhere producing a most deplorable effect. 

 Whereas in this happier land, the great entailed estates 

 of our old county families and aristocracy were like 

 bulwarks to arrest the devastating and vulgarising forces, 

 and had served to preserve our native fauna. 



He spoke without sufficient knowledge, describing a 

 condition of things which existed formerly, even down 

 to about the thirties or forties of the nineteenth century. 

 Then a change came over the spirit of the landowner's 

 dreams; a new fashion in sport had arisen, and from 

 that time onwards those who had been, indirectly, the 

 preservers of our country's wild life became its sys- 

 tematic destroyers. For the sake of a big head of 

 game, a big shoot in November, the birds being mainly 

 hand-reared semi-domestic pheasants driven to the guns. 



