SMALL BIEDS.] 



SHOOTING, 



[small BIEDS. 



The food and water given to pigeons should 

 be so disposed as not to allow them to soil 

 themselves in any way. Earthen pans may 

 be used for this ; but there are neat meat- 

 boxes and water-bottles made for the pur- 

 pose ; which are excellent things, and preserve 

 great cleanliness in feeding. The meat-box is 

 formed in the shape of a hopper, covered at the 

 top to preserve the grain from dirt, which de- 

 scends into a square hollow box. Some fence 

 this off with rails or holes on each side, to keep 

 the grain from being scattered over ; others 

 again leave it quite open, that the young birds 

 may the more readily get at their food. The 

 water-bottle is made of glass, with a long 

 neck, holding from one to five gallons ; it is 

 shaped like an egg, so that the pigeons may 

 not alight upon aud soil it. It is placed upon 



a stand, or three-footed stool, made hollow above 

 to receive the belly of the bottle, and let the 

 mouth into a small pan beneath. The water 

 gradually descends out of the mouth of the 

 bottle as the pigeons drink, and is thus kept 

 sweet and clean. It always stops when the 

 surface reaches the mouth of the bottle. 



Pigeon-match shooting is still practised in 

 many parts of England, and in the metropolis 

 and suburban localities. The terms of these 

 matches vary. Sometimes they are arranged 

 for single, sometimes for double guns ; occa- 

 sionally for one weight of shot, and sometimes 

 for another. "Within the last few years, how- 

 ever, these matches have been on the decline, 

 and are not now considered so fashionable as 

 they were some years ago ; more especially in 

 the vicinity of the metropolis. 



CHAPTER XV. 



SMALL BIRDS. 



Of late years there has, both in England and 

 Erance, been considerable speculation among 

 naturalists and farmers, in reference to the 

 wanton destruction of small birds, which, by 

 some, are supposed to do great damage to the 

 crops of the agriculturist, robbing him of much 

 of his grain, and thereby greatly reducing the 

 value of his crops. On the other hand, it is 

 argued that these birds are rather the guardians 

 than the thieves of granivorous property; that, 

 if they do take a little grain, it is as nothing, 

 ■when compared with the quantity that they 

 save by devouring innumerable insects, which, 

 without their activity and voracity, would 

 soon overspread the land AVhichever of these 

 opinions may be right, we will not stay to 

 inquire; but, if admiration, as well as incli- 

 nation, bo permitted to have any weight in 

 the matter, we should cry, " Spare the little 

 birds !" There is, however, much wantonness 

 and thoughtlessness exhibited, now-a-days, in 

 the destruction of many of the "beauties of 

 Nature," whether belonging to active or still- 

 600 



life. "We would not in any degree discourage 

 any fair use of God's creatures, either in the 

 way of investigation or even sport ; but a habit 

 greatly prevails of useless destruction, whenever 

 either rare beast, bird, or plant is met with in 

 our rambles. "Who that has wandered over 

 the wilds of Snowdonia, has not mourned over 

 the disappearance of many a rare plant, which 

 might well have rewarded the toils of climbing, 

 had it been left for the examination of him who 

 loves to see Nature's rarest productions flou- 

 rishing in their native wildness ! Tet, the 

 hand of the spoiler must root it up, and selfishly 

 appropriate, perhaps, the last specimen. If 

 a rare bird appears in any locality, number- 

 less guns are at once levelled at it; when 

 surely a moment's reflection would check such 

 selfishness, and induce us to think that the 

 more rare the bird or plant, the more we should 

 be careful not to destroy it. Had a different 

 and more rational spirit prevailed, we might 

 still have had a sight of the bustard on Salisbury 

 Plain, and the bittern in the marshes of Wales j 



