io8 Craigmillav and its Environs. 



attracted in large numbers to any speck of black 

 f^round that was visible. The bird-catching fraternity, 

 taking a mean advantage, cleared the snow off manure 

 heaps, where they spread their nets and captured the 

 birds wholesale, so that for several years thereafter 

 the public ear in this district was rarely gratified by 

 the unrivalled music of these aerial songsters. We 

 have here a species of rascality which unfortunately 

 neither farmers, the officers of the Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelt}- to Animals, nor the county 

 police have power to interfere with. There is no law 

 of trespass to protect the farmer, however much his 

 crops may be trampled and destroyed, apart from 

 the costly process of interdict ; and bird-catching, 

 as already indicated, does not come within the pale 

 of the law. By the Wild Birds Protection Act, any 

 one, however well intentioned, who takes a thrush 

 or lark from its nest for a pet during the breeding 

 season is liable to be punished ; and yet in the 

 winter months the despicable class referred to is 

 allowed to capture our songsters wholesale without 

 fear of legal consequences. That such a state of 



