47 



probably is, the case that in places where fruit is not much 

 grown, the Blackcap's insectivorous habits are more con- 

 spicuous, and it is there considered undoubtedly useful ; but 

 a perusal of the list of districts in which special protection has 

 been given to it in this country will certainly not support the 

 natural inference that these must be districts in which fruit is 

 not grown. One is therefore driven to the conclusion that the 

 estimate of economic value is not always based upon a study of 

 the facts, it is often purely arbitrary or founded possibly on 

 sentiment. 



CONCLUSION. 



When we presume to interfere with a species, it should be 

 remembered that in the course of time Nature has arrived at 

 her own natural level ; and when we declare that some particular 

 bird is too numerous for us, it has usually become so because man 

 has upset the natural condition of things. In considering the 

 protection of birds we have perforce had to confine ourselves 

 chiefly to legislation which deters their destruction, though we 

 have also alluded to the important kindred subject of their 

 introduction. A treatise of very limited dimensions can but deal 

 with the fringe of so gigantic a subject, and many important 

 matters must be left practically untouched. Thus there is a 

 wide field for discussion on the closely allied question of the 

 encouragement of species in order to re-establish the balance of 

 Nature in places where their presence is valuable, but where 

 they have become scarce, often owing directly to the action of 

 man. We refer to cases in which mere protection is insufficient ; 

 cases in which the useful resident species should be directly and 

 physically encouraged to reside and to breed by feeding them in 

 winter, when their natural food is hard to obtain, by planting 

 suitable trees and shrubs in which they may nest, or in some 

 cases by the supply of nesting boxes. How much can be done 

 in this way is difiicult to say, but there can be little doubt that 

 the vast numbers to which the Starling has attained are due to 

 a great extent to the encouragement it has received. For many 

 years past it has had nesting places prepared for it in parts of 

 Germany, Scandinavia and Russia,* and we all know how 

 speedily it avails itself of similar opportunities here. In 

 Germany especially this branch of our subject has received 

 much attention, chiefly through the energy of Baron Hans von 

 Berlepsch. And wonderful results are said to have followed 

 the fixing of artificial nesting-boxes on stakes on sandhills in 



* See Dresser, " Birds of Europe," Vol. IV., p. 411. 



