VERMIN 179 



errands of destruction, is still rife in the 

 land ; though ignorance and the dic- 

 tates of fashion still allow women to 

 deck themselves unchecked in beautiful 

 feathers cruelly torn from egrets on their 

 nests, yet, on the whole, the outlook is 

 hopeful, and many of our rarer native 

 birds, which till lately seemed doomed 

 soon to disappear from the land, have 

 taken a new lease of life, and are respond- 

 ing generously to the protection now 

 accorded to them by increasing their 

 numbers and extending their range. 



In this regard, we must all welcome 

 most gladly the change from the old order 

 to the new in the race of gamekeepers. 

 The old gamekeeper had much to answer 

 for ; he knew little and cared less about 

 any beast or bird on his ground which 

 did not come under the category of Game. 

 The justice which he meted out to the 

 creatures of the wild was that of the 

 Revolutionary Tribunal all suspects to 

 the guillotine or the gallows tree. 



Sad reading are some of the vermin 



