192 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



country cannot be taken at less than some 

 millions of money per annum. This clever and 

 informative booklet is so peculiarly characteristic 

 of Tegetmeier at his " fighting point," that the 

 biographer is sorely tempted to make several 

 extracts, but space forbids and I must simply 

 counsel readers to obtain a copy (it costs only a 

 shilling), and content myself with two or three 

 peculiarly Tegetmeierian remarks. Writing of 

 the inconsistency of the defenders of the sparrow, 

 he says they do not put their theories into action : 

 they " would join heartily in the destruction of 

 cobras and rattlesnakes were they inhabitants of 

 the countries where these animals existed, and in 

 our own climate they practise as far as possible the 

 destruction of rats and mice amongst mammals, 

 and of cockroaches, bugs, and other personal 

 vermin amongst insects. . . . Some take their 

 stand on the mention of the sparrow in the Bible, 

 not knowing that neither the original Hebrew 

 word tzippor, nor its Greek equivalent, means 

 sparrow but any small bird," and he quotes 

 Canon Tristram against them to the effect that 

 the name is evidently generic, applied to all the 

 varieties of small passerine birds. Then he 

 demolishes a leaflet published by the Humani- 

 tarian League, and one which states that the 

 bird is of benefit in destroying cockchafers, both 

 in the grub and the winged state, " the writer 

 being obviously ignorant of the fact that the 



