THE ENDED TRUCE 



For six months the game-birds have had freedom to build 

 and breed unmolested. The sound of the gun has been 

 rare. It is true that even in May rifles, if not guns, are 

 busy here and there. It is still a common form of sport to 

 shoot the young rooks soon after they make their first 

 tentative crawl along the elm boughs ; and rabbits, which 

 breed at most times of the year, are shot in most seasons. 

 But for the most part the spring and summer make a six 

 months of truce, regarded more or less faithfully towards 

 most birds and many mammals. In summer the truce is 

 deeper than in spring in some regards. In the rough hill 

 countries a May fox will be killed now and again ; and the 

 harriers and beagles are so often afoot in late spring that a 

 protest against the hunting of heavy hares may be raised 

 with pardonable iteration. In mid June foxes and hares, and 

 some of the vermin, are tolerably safe from man. But in 

 August the truce is formally broken. Happily many birds 

 are now protected all the year. We are their permanent 

 friends; and in England the list of these perpetual allies is 

 steadily increased by the County Councils who concern them- 

 selves with the subject. Perhaps it would be better if in 

 almost all respects the truce were longer. The duck, which 

 are the first victims in England, and may be shot on August I, 



