LETTER TO LORD WALSINGHAM. COLINS 103 



an occasional linnet ; enormous numbers of 

 chasseurs kill or frighten away everything. . . . 

 You would hardly credit the trouble I have had 

 about getting leave to carry a gun : no objection 

 to the fact of my doing so, but the difficulty 

 about finding the correct official, and the rare 

 occasions upon which he was at his post.' 



To Lord Walsingham. 



' R.Y.S. " Zara," Toulon : December 22, 1873. 



'Yours of the 15th only reached me yesterday. 

 I have no Colins to dispose of this year ; in fact, 

 I find that the foxes and mowing machines in 

 Northamptonshire are too strong for me and 

 them, and I am reluctantly obliged to give up 

 turning out any more, though they did right well 

 as far as laying goes, and the climate seems to 

 suit them. You in West Norfolk are not afflicted 

 with foxes to any extent, and agriculture is a 

 secondary consideration. I am very glad to 

 hear that these little birds have succeeded with 

 you, but were I you I should turn out a few every 

 season. I enclose a letter I received yester- 

 day from Jamrach. Ten shillings a pair is too 



