90 GAME PRESERVERS AXD BIRD PRESERVERS. 



any of his friends ever calculate what was likely 

 to be the smallest number of eggs ever taken 

 in a breeding season by the very idlest and 

 least skilful pair of crows in his park ? At 

 the rate of one nest a week it would amount 

 to hundreds, and a really energetic crow would 

 generally find one a day. When as schoolboys 

 we collected birds' eggs, how we envied these 

 birds, who had neither morning nor afternoon 

 lessons, who did not know what out of bounds 

 meant, and whose life seemed one long whole 

 hohday ! We hold the opinion that if a man is 

 so fortmiate as to have such a valuable trea- 

 sure on his land as a dozen grouse, partridge, 

 or pheasant eggs, the best possible use he 

 can make of them is to take what precautions 

 he may to see that they turn into twelve 

 beautiful birds. To watch them from the day 

 they are hatched is most interesting. To follow 

 them and thin their numbers in autumn will give 

 him or his friends exercise and amusement, 

 and his invahd friends, in particular, will be 



