XIV 

 THE PLAGUE OF BIRDS 



ONE of the results of the increased and growing 

 interest in nature study in this country is a 

 very curious one. Any one who has much 

 experience of country habits, or who in particular 

 has gained insight into the standards of the present 

 generation of boys and girls in rural districts, must 

 be struck with a change which has taken place. 

 " The attitude of the country boy to birds and 

 bird-nesting has much altered in my time/' said 

 recently an inspector of elementary schools of long 

 and wide rural experience. A change is undoubtedly 

 in progress ; and the correlative is to be seen in the 

 increased attention directed to nature subjects in 

 many periodicals, the more general inculcation in 

 elementary schools of a humanitarian attitude 

 towards wild birds and their nests, and the gradual 

 extension to nearly all parts of the country of the 

 influence of the restrictive spirit of the Wild Birds' 

 Protection Acts. This forms one aspect of the 

 subject. To most thoughtful persons who have 

 given attention to the matter these are the results 

 which were to be expected and the change is regarded 

 in a favourable light. Yet there is another side to 



189 



