PROTECTION OF BIRDS OF PREY 161 



To George E. Lodge. 



1 Lilford : December 22, 1889. 



' If you have not yet sent your article on 

 " Vermin ' ' to the publishers, I hope you will insist 

 upon the fact that in England no bird of prey is 

 now sufficiently common to do any appreciable 

 amount of harm to game, except the sparrow- 

 hawk. The Falcon will, and does, kill Grouse, 

 but I would pass over that fact as gently as 

 possible, without denying it (there is harm in 

 overstating one's case) ; but you may safely rest 

 the Falcon's claims to protection from a sporting 

 point of view, as a bird that affords the very 

 highest class of sport to those who have the 

 true sporting instinct. The Kestrel will poach 

 on young game at the coops occasionally, but 

 may well be defended on account of its beauty 

 and the great good it does in destroying field- 

 mice, voles, and noxious insects. The Merlin 

 can do no real harm, and the Hobby needs no 

 defence.' 



