THE BALANCE OF NATURE. 19 



fail to see that what they Avoiild get would be a 

 close time for no bird, except, since ' hawks will 

 not pick out hawks' eyes,' for the five or six sorts 

 of birds of prey which still infest this country ? 

 By what stretch of the imagination can the 

 grouse, which so gallantly ran the gauntlet of 

 our guns in the autumn, be said to enjoy a close 

 time in the spring, when they are being killed 

 and torn to pieces every day from March to 

 August by the peregrine falcon ? Or how can 

 this be said of the birds whose songs dehght us, 

 and who do us such good service in our gardens, 

 while we allow them to be carried off before our 

 eyes every day ? But the more carefully we have 

 read all this mass of evidence, the more clear it 

 seems to us that at the present time the game 

 preserver is the only bird preserver, the only 

 real friend all our bh-ds have ; and any lady 

 who resides on a really well preserved estate 

 may rest assured that ten larks, blackbirds, and 

 thrushes are singing to her every summer even- 

 ing as she walks through the fields and woods, 

 c 2 



