144 



nieiit than they have received. So far as English 

 publications are concerned, my interest has been 

 exhausted by repeated disappointment. I have 

 searched carefully for information and too often 

 have found onl}^ stereotyped error, reckless assertion, 

 and inveterate ignorance. 



This state of things has alwaj^s appeared to 

 me quite unaccountable. Why this extraordinary 

 neglect of a subject which offers so many attractions 

 and advantages ? I have never been able to find an 

 answer, but some time ago I heard an explanation 

 which I dismissed as wholly ridiculous ; it would not 

 be shaken off, and has recurred from time to time 

 with such curious corroboration that I am tempted to 

 seek for further light upon it. My informant was one 

 of those gentlemen who are always " in the know," 

 who can tell you everything everyone wants to know 

 about everybody, and he was perfectly familiar with 

 all the secrets of the press. According to him nearlj^ 

 all the "reliable" racing tips which are published 

 every da}^ emanate from one person, the great Major 

 Profit, who is often correct, and, but for some very 

 remarkable accidents would alwa3^s be so : and the 

 information on bird diseases is nearly all supplied by 

 a medical man in large practice who on occasions of 

 great pressure relegates this and other duties to the 

 surgery boy, " Well," I replied, " if that is so I must 

 have been singularly unfortunate, or the doctor's 

 urgent calls very frequent, for I am thoroughly 

 familiar with the views of the surgery bo}^ but I 

 cannot remember having met with those of the 

 doctor." (Of course my remarks do not apply to 

 Dr. Creswell's reports in " Bird Notes.") No doubt 

 others will regard this explanation, as I did, as a mild 

 joke ; but they may be startled, as I was, to find how 

 the theory fits some of the facts they will encounter. 

 Take any of the reports of post mortems of birds 



