278 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



swift, — at least, not yet perceptibly so ; but I fear 

 the diminution now extends to fieldfare, redwing, 

 and even to the lark. That partridges, grouse, 

 and blackgame are decreasing, I have no sort 

 of doubt, and pheasants are kept up by artificial 

 breeding. The common pewit, too, is falling off, 

 and no wonder, as every idle man's hand is 

 raised against its life and eggs but for the 

 j)reservation of game on some manorial lands. 



When I first came to my present residence, on 

 the neglected heaths around it there was scarcely a 

 pewit, and certainly on my own lands not an egg 

 procurable for my table. Now, from the strict 

 preservation of the few pewits there were, I have 

 many pewits, and from their first nests a very good 

 supply of eggs, the rule being not to interfere 

 with the second nest, but to let them hatch and 

 rear their young. The taking of plovers' eggs 

 should be restricted, so that the gourmand's supply 

 might nevertheless satiate the appetite, while, after 

 the feast, the second nests should fare better. I 

 would bar the taking of plovers' eggs after a certain 

 day. 



Since the gun-tax, every class of birds has felt 

 the wisdom of it, and the harmony of the woods 



