CANNIBALS IN COURT 343 



the occupation of sportsmen. These birds may belong 

 to the working guikls, and all have habits mteresting 

 to bird-lovers ; but as regards their value to the world, 

 it is mostly in the shape of food for House People." 



*' Then it isn't wrong for people to kill these birds for 

 food ? " 



" No, not if it is done fairly, in a true sportsmanlike 

 spirit, and not with traps or snares, or in the nesting 

 season, when no bird should be molested. The true 

 sportsman never shoots a bird out of season, or a song 

 bird at an}^ time, and it is owing to his care that laws 

 are made to stop the pot-hunters." 



" Are the game birds tree birds, or what ? " asked 

 Dodo. 



" There are many kinds," said the Doctor. " Some of 

 them have cooing notes and build their nests in trees ; 

 these belong to the Pigeon family. Some scratch about 

 and feed on the ground, where they also nest, like our 

 barnyard poultry. Others run along the banks of riv- 

 ers or on the sea-ljeaches, where they Avade in shallow 

 water to pick up their food, like Snipes and Plovers; 

 while others swim with their webbed feet and take 

 their food from deep water, like Geese and Ducks. 

 There are a few game birds in this glass case — some 

 Pigeons and Grouse ; suppose we finish the morning in 

 their company ? 



" We will call Pigeons the Birds that Coo ; and 

 Grouse are some of the Birds that Scratch, so called 

 because they all have much the same habit as our do- 

 mestic fowls of scratching the ground for food and to 

 raise a dust in which they take a sort of bath. See, 

 this Cooer is called the Passenger Pigeon." 



