H2 "TRESPASSERS" 



most reason to be thankful for their services. These 

 birds are down to be trapped or shot, not in so many 

 words, for it would require more knowledge than 

 one game-preserver in fifty possesses to describe 

 half-a-dozen of them. "Hawk, Crow, Owl" is 

 written large across the lot, so that he who runs may 

 shoot, and the gamekeeper, having received his 

 instructions, applies himself with equal zeal and 

 probably greater knowledge to carry them out. It 

 is the bald truth to say that this list contains nearly 

 all that is noblest amongst British Breeding Birds. 

 Indeed, some of them can no longer claim that title, 

 the extirpated clan of breeding birds being represented 

 by members of the species appearing only as visitors 

 or passengers in these islands ; other species, repre- 

 sented by a few pairs breeding under protection, 

 exist by such indulgence only. 



The game-preserver may reply that not he alone 

 is answerable for this state of things. I grant him, 

 therefore, such satisfaction as he may derive from 

 association in this work with bird-catcher and bird- 

 stuffer, and that less intelligible compound of greed 

 and stupidity the amateur (not to mention the pro- 

 fessional) collector. But he must recognise that his 

 associates come to their work as a rule only when a 

 species has been sufficiently reduced in number to 

 impart to the eggs and skin a value that makes it 

 worth the while for these mercenaries to put forth 

 strenuous efforts to obtain them. That many species 

 have been so reduced we lay without hesitation to 

 the charge of game-preservers. They have, indeed, 

 but one reputable associate in their work, and that is 

 the draining of marshes and reclaiming of waste 



