BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 125 



ivay of contrast to his own merciful temper, he 

 told mt of the young nest-destroyer I have writ- 

 ten about. It made him mad to see such things! 

 Something ought to be done, he said, to stop a 

 boy like that; for by destroying so many nestlings 

 he was taking the bread out of the bird-catcher's 

 mouth. Passing to other subjects, he said that so 

 far he had caught nothing but linnets on the com- 

 mon — you couldn't expect to catch other kinds 

 in June. Later on, In August and September, 

 there would be a variety. But he had small hopes 

 of catching goldfinches, they were too scarce now. 

 Greenfinches, yellow-hammers, common buntings, 

 reed sparrows — all such birds were worth only 

 tuppence apiece. Oh, yes, he caught them just 

 the same, and sent them up to London, but that 

 was all they were w^ 1 to him. For young male 

 linnets he got ei ,, pence, sometimes tenpence; 

 for hen birds foui pence, or less. I dare say that 

 elghtpence was what he hoped to get, seeing that 

 young male linnets ar.^ not unfrequently sold by 

 London dealers for sixpence and even fourpence. 

 Goldfinches ran to elghteenpence, sometimes as 

 much as two shillings. Starlings he had made a 

 lot out of, but that was all past and over. Why? 



