AND INCREASE OF CERTAIN BIRDS IN SCOTLAND. 63 
out and in of nesting-log, rather timidly, however. Hope 
they'll nest there and let me catch them.” “ Aug. 1—But 
they didn’t.” 
Now, am I wrong if I call sparrows “ ruffians ” after such ex- 
perience of them? And yet I feel that the blame rests chiefly 
on man, who has altered the environment of the bird, has 
killed down all the enemies which were so wisely set to keep 
the sparrow and other birds in check; who has ruined the 
moral character of every bird he has had to do with closely. 
(In support of this latter rather strong statement, let me 
only mention the cases of the domestic duck and the 
pheasant—the ancestors of these birds in a wild state were, 
and are, strictly monogamous—the birds as we see them 
are polygamous.*) But to return to the sparrow; he has 
deteriorated because he can now eat without working for 
his food. He is merely a parasite, driving out purely insect- 
eating birds from the places where they are most needed, 
while he himself, as I have shown, will hardly under any 
circumstances eat an insect. I know that the poor bird 
had its right place and proper work originally assigned to 
it, and among proper surroundings in a state of nature it 
was undoubtedly useful. But all is changed now; and I 
believe that its further increase will be a misfortune. 
My hope, as I close, is that all rare birds will be allowed 
to increase—that game preservers will become reasonably 
tolerant towards what they most foolishly call vermin—that, 
as far as possible, the disturbed balance be allowed to re- 
adjust itself. One Scottish proprietor, above all others, 
deserves special honour for the way in which he has pro- 
tected and encouraged rare birds on his property — Sir 
Herbert Maxwell,t who has done more than this, for in 1891 
he turned loose twelve jays in the middle of his game pre- 
serves, where they now breed. So that he has thus success- 
fully reintroduced to Wigtownshire a beautiful bird which 
had been extirpated by keepers. 
Would that others would take a similar interest in rare 
and persecuted birds; would that men would learn that the 
same wise Hand which formed the birds also proportioned 
their numbers to each other. 
* See Seebohm’s British Birds, vol. ii. p. 448. 
+ See Annals Scot. Nat. Hist., April 1898, p. 114. 
