FLOCKS OF BIRDS 33 



it that winter, but I never heard that any one proposed 

 feeding the rooks, the very birds that wanted it most. 



Swallows, again, were declared by many to be fewer. 

 It is not at all unlikely that they were fewer. The 

 wet season was unfavourable to them \ still a good 

 deal of the supposed absence of swallows may be 

 through the observer not looking for them in the right 

 place. If not wheeling in the sky, look for them over 

 the water, the river, or great ponds ; if not there, look 

 ; along the moist fields or shady woodland meadows. 

 They vary their haunts with the state of the atmos- 

 I phere, which causes insects to be more numerous in 

 one place at one time, and presently in another. 



A very wet season is more fatal than the sharpest 

 frost ; it acts by practically reducing the births, leaving 

 j the ordinary death-rate to continue. Consequently, as 

 ; the old birds die, there are none (or fewer) to supply 

 j their places. Once more let me express the opinion 

 that there are as many small birds round London as 

 in the country, and no measure is needed to protect 

 ! the species at large. Protection, if needed, is required 

 I for the individual. Sweep the roads and lanes clear 

 of the birdcatchers, but do not prevent a boy from 

 I taking a nest in the open fields or commons. If it 

 j were made illegal to sell full-grown birds, half the evil 

 j would be stopped at once if the law were enforced. 

 The question is full of difficulties. To prevent or 

 attempt to prevent the owner of a garden from shoot- 

 ing the bullfinches or blackbirds and so on that steal 

 his fruit, or destroy his buds, is absurd. It is equally 

 absurd to fine what twaddle ! a lad for taking a 

 bird's egg. The only point upon which I am fully 

 clear is that the birdcatcher who takes birds on land 

 not his own or in his occupation, on public property, 



c 



