I 4 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



Venturing to remonstrate once with a keeper 

 who had just shot a Kestrel, and would persist in 

 calling it a " Sparrer-'awk," he said, " Lor' bless you, 

 sir, I've shot scores on 'em. I know he (pointing 

 to the bird) as well as I know this here dawg, and 

 there ain't a greater varmint out. I'll be bound he's 

 had some o' my young birds." We held a post- 

 mortem, and instead of a young pheasant, we found 

 he had been dining off a short-tailed field-mouse, 

 with grasshoppers for second course, and the keeper 

 was obliged to admit that he could not grudge him 

 that fare. We begged hard for the poor Kestrel, 

 but it is difficult to overcome a prejudice, and 

 keepers have always a ready excuse, though often- 

 times a poor one, for what they do. 



A friend in Sussex once found a Nightjar strung 

 up with a lot of stoats and jays in his keeper's 

 " museum." He immediately reproved the man for 

 killing it. The keeper declared it was " a specie of 

 'awk ;" but his master pointing to the bill and feet, 

 clearly showed him that it was no such thing, and 

 concluded by saying that for the future he wished 

 such birds preserved. One would have thought 

 that this would have silenced the man. Determined, 



