32 Lost British Birds. 



a race, which has diverged from the parent form during the 

 long centuries of its isolated life on that wintry island where 

 not a tree or shrub exists. Species, sub-species, or variety, 

 it matters little ; what concerns us just now is the following 

 fact. No sooner had the news gone abroad that " lone St. 

 Kilda's isle " possessed one little song-bird of her own a 

 wren that differed somewhat from the familiar wren than 

 it was invaded by the noble army of collectors, who did not 

 mind its loneliness and distance from the mainland so long 

 as they secured something for their cabinets ; and the result 

 of their invasion is that the St. Kilda wren no longer 

 exists. 



It is after all very difficult to determine which of the 

 following three inveterate bird-destroyers have done and are 

 doing the most to alter, and, from the nature-lover's point 

 of view, to degrade, the character of our bird population : 

 The Cockney sportsman, who kills for killing's sake ; the 

 gamekeeper who has set down the five-and-twenty most in- 

 teresting indigenous species as " vermin " to be extirpated ; 

 or, third and last, the greedy collector, whose methods are as 

 discreditable as his action is injurious ? 



