SCRAPING ACQUAINTANCE. 1438 
bird-skins which adorn her bonnet. But that 
would be only giving one more proof of our heart- 
lessness ; and, besides, unless a man is down- 
right angry he can scarcely feel that he has 
really cleared himself when he has done nothing 
more than to point the finger and say, You ’re 
another. However, I am not set for the defence 
of ornithologists. They are abundantly able to 
take care of themselves without the help of any 
outsider. I only declare that, even to my un- 
professional eye, this rule of theirs seems wise 
and necessary. ‘They know, if their critics do 
not, how easy it is to be deceived; how many 
times things have been seen and minutely de- 
scribed, which, as was afterwards established, 
could not by any possibility have been visible. 
Moreover, regret it as we may, it is clear that in 
this world nobody can escape giving and taking 
more or less pain. We of the sterner sex are 
accustomed to think that even our blue-eyed 
censors are not entirely innocent in this regard ; 
albeit, for myself, I am bound to believe that 
generally they are not to blame for the tortures 
they inflict upon us. 
Granting the righteousness of the scientist’s 
caution, however, we may still find a less rigor- 
ous code sufficient for our own non-scientific, 
though I hope not unscientific, purpose. Tor it 
is certain that no great enjoyment of bird study 
