BIRDS. 



SINCE the days of Aristophanes, at any rate, man has been 

 the recognised foe of the birds, but his affection for them 

 Persecu- is a tender plant of modern growth, rearing its 

 tion and head only in a few highly civilised lands, and 

 protection. even t k ere in cons t an t danger of being killed. 

 For the tendency of the present day trends dangerously 

 on that exaggeration that is certain to provoke the charge 

 of maudlin sentimentalism. It is perfectly right to en- 

 deavour, even, as in Massachusetts, by legislation, to re- 

 strain the senseless fashions that have resulted in feathered 

 women. It is equally laudable to attempt to bring home 

 to the farmer, ay, and game-preserver, the wholesome fact 

 that nature's balance was established before the dawn of 

 farming or preservation ; that limits had already been put 

 to the untoward increase of bird -life, the egg -eating 

 mammals and reptiles, the terrific winds to thin the ranks 

 of migrants, and the late frosts to kill the early broods. 

 Man's arrival on the scene was a bad day, indeed, for the 

 birds, and a bright one for the insects on which they fed. 

 Bird-protecting societies have plenty of excellent work to 

 do if they can only stamp out the catapult ; if they can but 

 persuade the agriculturist that a single wagtail, or swal- 

 low, or nightjar may be worth a ton of vermifuge. They 

 need not go beyond their strength and protest against the 

 shooting of game-birds reared, even imported, for the pur- 



G 



