236 BIRDS AND MAN 



own and their neighbours' fowlers, and all those 

 who had a keen eye for a feathered rarity, were in 

 their pay ; and so the destruction went merrily 

 on. The worst of it was that the authors of the evil, 

 who were not only law-breakers themselves, but were 

 paying others to break the law, could not be touched ; 

 no one could prosecute nor openly denounce them be- 

 cause of their important social position in the county. 

 There was nothing new to me in all this : it was 

 an old familiar story ; I have given it fully, simply 

 because it is an accurate statement of what is being 

 done all over the country. There is not a county 

 in the kingdom where you may not hear of important 

 members of the community who are collectors of 

 birds and their eggs, and law-breakers, both directly 

 and indirectly, every day of their lives. They all 

 take, and pay for, every rare visitant that comes 

 in their way, and also require an unlimited supply 

 of the rarer resident species for the purpose of 

 exchange with other private collectors in distant 

 counties. In this way our finest species are gradually 

 being extirpated. Within the last few years we have 

 seen the disappearance (as breeding species) of the 

 ruff and reeve, marsh harrier, and honey buzzard ; 

 and the species now on the verge of extinction, which 

 will soon follow these and others that have gone 



