100 ON THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS. 
by observation. I don’t seek to contend that in special instaiice’ 
considerable harm and damage may not be committed by small 
birds; but to show that the blind and indiscriminate destruction 
of them, as in the case of that wicked and stupid institution 
called a Sparrow Club, is based on nothing short of ignorance and 
total want of ordinary observation. The habit of decrying the 
value of these, God’s creatures, is not, however, confined to the 
subscribers to Sparrow Clubs. The gardeners commonly believe 
their worst foes to be the Blackbirds, Thrushes, Sparrows, Finches, 
and Tomtits. The farmer commonly regards all creatures with 
wings, specially Rooks and Sparrows, as his bitter enemies; he 
shoots them, traps them, poisons them, makes scarecrows of them, 
and, in fact, does all he can to get rid of them. The game- 
keeper goes to work in a more business-like manner—he kills 
everything, it does not matter what, ‘‘ quite promiscous;” every- 
thing to him is vermin (except perhaps foxes); Cats, Hawks, Owls, 
Stoats, Weasels, Polecats, Hedgehogs, Magpies, Jays, Squirrels, 
may all be seen exhibited in his museum—a strange medley— 
those that kill game, those that prey on the smaller vermin, all 
hanging together on the same rail. There is no discrimination, 
no classification, no reflection on the purposes for which these 
varied creatures are sent into the world; all are sacrificed for the 
sake of preserving tame pheasants which are nursed, and watched, 
and fed, till their natural instinct of self-preservation is nearly 
knocked out of them. As to the Hawks the gamekeeper scarcely 
ever troubles to distinguish between them; a Hawk is to him 
simply a Hawk—no distinction being made between the per- 
fectly harmless and useful Kestrel, and the more powerful Sparrow- 
hawk. The difficulty one always has in obtaining real and valu- 
able information from gamekeepers and others, whose oppor- 
tunities of studying the nature and character of the various species 
of wild birds are abundant, alone shows how little as a rule they 
value these creatures—shows indeed that they regard them simply 
as a nuisance, and an obstacle to the preservation of game. I 
heard a short time ago that in a part of Norfolk a Magpie had 
not been seen for 15 years; and I was informed at the same time 
that in a part of Surrey the Magpie is an “ extinct bird.” 
