278 BIRDS IN LONDON 



rough who delights in destruction. That a man 

 should find pleasure in stoning a valuable park 

 bird to death or in trampling down a flower-bed 

 may seem an astonishing thing, when we see 

 that the objects destroyed are solely intended for 

 the people's pleasure, that they are paid for by the 

 people, and are, in a sense, the people's property. 

 It may even seem inexplicable, since the rough 

 is a human being and must therefore have the 

 social instinct. But there is really no mystery 

 in it ; by inflicting injury on the community he 

 is after all only following other instincts common 

 to man, which are quite as strong and sometimes 

 stronger than the social. He is prompted by 

 the hunting instinct, which is universal and 

 doubtless in him is to some extent perverted ; 

 also the love of adventure, since by doing wrong 

 he runs a certain risk, and wins a little glory of 

 a low kind from his associates and others who are 

 of like mind with him ; and finally, he is actuated 

 by the love of power, which in its degraded 

 form finds a measure of gratification in hurting 

 others, or in depriving them of a pleasure. 



But after all said, these injurious persons are 

 in an exceedingly small, an almost infinitesimal, 

 minority, and the damage they do is little and 



