210 PLEA FOR RAKE BIRDS. [PART II. 



he had found, laid wait in ambush, and "secured" 

 the mother-bird, by shooting her as she ran up 

 to it. 



Now it is no doubt very interesting to know 

 that a Harlequin-duck has visited such or such a 

 locality, and still more so that it has been so far 

 reconciled to the presence of man, as to become, 

 to a certain extent, domesticated; but could not 

 these facts be established without the sacrifice of 

 the poor lone wanderer ? Again, from the remark- 

 able fact that Nightingales are very rarely found 

 west of particular boundaries, it is certainly a 

 note-worthy incident when one has deviated from 

 the law which seems to keep them to the east of 

 those limits; but surely the last-mentioned "na- 

 turalist" might have been satisfied with his own 

 evidence or that of his friends, in proof of the 

 poor bird's visit, without Tdlling it. How can the 

 Devonshire people expect to have their ears glad- 

 dened with the bird's sweet song, if that is the 

 way they welcome the casual visitors of the spe- 

 cies ? Of birds which formerly were comparatively 

 abundant in the British Islands, one or two species 

 may be said to have disappeared from amongst us, 

 whilst of others not a few now make their appear- 

 ance only at distant and uncertain intervals, too 



