PHASES OF BIRD LIFE, 215 
Newgate Calendar scarcely furnishes a parallel. 
Even our most scientific journals print many of 
these bloody annals. It is true, a reasonable num- 
ber of specimens must be collected for scientific pur- 
poses, but surely no adequate excuse can be given 
for shooting hundreds of individuals of the same 
species merely to have the honor of saying that an 
astounding number of specimens were “taken.” If 
the cause of natural history cannot be promoted 
without destroying the humane instincts of the natu- 
ralist himself, the price is too great; it were better 
left unpaid. A bird in the bush is worth forty in 
the hand, especially if the forty are dead; worth 
more, too, I venture to add, to the cause of science 
itself. 
