ADVICE TO A YOUNG NATURALIST 14: 



birds that are only rare because they are mur- 

 dered immediately on their arrival. The poor 

 Hoopoe is an instance of this ; many are slaugh- 

 tered on our coasts every year simply for the 

 benefit of the local bird-stuffers, who charge a 

 high price because they are killed in our country. 

 This bird is common in many parts of the Con- 

 tinent, and from a scientific point of view its 

 visits to this country cannot add to its value. I 

 heard rumours many years ago of a bird-stuffer 

 in Cambridge (not Baker) who used to go up to 

 London and buy many of the birds alive in 

 Leadenhall Market that come from Holland, 

 such as Purple Heron, Night Heron. Little 

 Bittern, Spoonbill. This artist used to keep 

 these birds out of sight, kill them one by one, and 

 display them in his shop as having been freshly 

 killed in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and 

 obtain from the British-bird maniacs something 

 like 150 per cent, on the price he had paid for 

 them. If you mean really to take to ornithology 

 you cannot do better than constitute Alfred 

 Newton as your Gamaliel, and adopt the fourth 

 edition of Yarrell as your text-book, but I hope 

 that you will extend your interest beyond our 



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