72 A BIRD'S-NEST HUNTER. 



It is noble society in which we find our- 

 selves, is it not? In the front rank are 

 what we may call the professional ob'logists, 



such as follow the business for a liveli- 

 hood : snakes, skunks, weasels, squirrels, 

 cats, crows, jays, cuckoos, and the like. 

 Then come the not inconsiderable number 

 of persons who, for a more or less strictly 

 scientific purpose, take here and there a 

 nest with its contents ; while these are fol- 

 lowed by hordes of school-boys, whom the 

 prevalent mania for " collecting " drives to 

 scrape together miscellaneous lots of eggs, 



half-named, misnamed, and nameless, 

 to put with previous accumulations of post- 

 age-stamps, autographs, business cards, and 

 other like precious rubbish. 



Alas, the poor birds ! These " perils of rob- 

 bers " and " perils among false brethren " 

 are bad enough, but they have many others 

 to encounter ; " journeyings often " and 

 " perils of waters " being among the worst. 

 Gentle and innocent as they seem, it speaks 



assault ? Myself no vegetarian, by what right had I bela- 

 bored him for liking the taste of chicken ? It were well, 

 perhaps, not to pry too curiously into questions of this 

 kind. Most likely it would not flatter our human self-esteem 

 to know what some of our " poor relations " think of us. 



