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seen, in Germany the Imperial Law of 1888 took the more 

 unusual line of simply declaring what species should be considered 

 noxious. It is merely a matter of convenience which course to 

 adopt, although personally we are not much in favour of 

 schedules of " noxious " birds, for the publication of a list of 

 birds bi-anded as " noxious " is apt to cause their wanton 

 slaughter by thoughtless and ignorant persons. Almost all 

 legislation on the subject is framed with the ultimate object of 

 preserving something of use or value to men. This gives rise 

 to the question — Valuable in what way ? Now birds are valuable 

 in various ways. They often have a very distinct aesthetic 

 value, for in most cases their flight is beautiful ; their forms are 

 often lovely beyond all powers of human description ; their 

 colours are frequently exquisite, and their songs mean some- 

 times more to us than anything M'hich our own language can 

 convey. Think for a moment of the Blackcap singing on its 

 first arrival in an English spring. Who has had the fortune to 

 listen to that song and not felt unworthy of the privilege ? 

 Birds have also a great economic value. Those of certain orders 

 are regular articles of food throughout the universe, and have 

 been objects of the chase as long as hunting has existed. The 

 value of birds has, moreover, now become generally recognised 

 in relation to agriculture in its wider sense, including forestry 

 and horticulture. The sportsman has for many generations in- 

 sisted on his game being sufficiently preserved during the breeding 

 season ; the legislation in favour of birds useful to agriculture 

 has practically all come into existence during the last century, 

 while protection given by law on aesthetic or humanitarian 

 grounds has been granted quite recently, such legislation being 

 the result of disgust at the ruthless slaughter of certain beautiful 

 and harmless species. 



Speaking generally, it is by devouring insects that birds are 

 most directly useful to agriculture, and the majority of the 

 schedules proceed upon the basis of including as useful all in- 

 sectivorous species. It is not, however, always easy to say 

 whether a species should be included in a schedule of useful birds. 

 It may be considered decidedly useful in one district and decidedly 

 harmful in another ; or, as is more usually the case, partly 

 harmful and partly useful in each. In the latter case the 

 evidence must be very carefully weighed. To take a common 

 instance, Skylarks are often accused, and rightly so, of attacking 

 freshly-drilled oats and autumn-sown ^^'heat ; but in many dis- 

 tricts hardly any wheat or oats are grown, and everywhere they 

 destroy large numbers of insects and seeds of weeds. Or again, 

 let us take the case of the Chaffinch, a bird of which many 



