364 THE BIRD WATCHER 
of course, that I weld wish to curtail the liberty of 
personal action in this respect, any more than I would 
wish mine to be curtailed. He who, in his private 
capacity, keeps a snake, and feeds it on fruit or meat, 
has my hearty approval ; but if a naturalist, seeking 
instruction, were to keep it in this way, he would be 
largely wasting his time. That he should be obliged, 
or considered morally bound, to do so, is intolerable. 
I lift up my voice, and protest against such an idea. I 
go very far—very far indeed, I think—in my humani- 
tarian views in regard to animals, but as a naturalist 
I must draw the line somewhere, and I draw it at 
officious intermeddling, at any attempt to stop the 
course of nature in the animal world ; in which term, 
however, I do not include domestic animals. 
