CHAPTER XVI 



In a Hampshire Village 



Going further into Hampshire I was by-and-by at 

 a spot which cannot be named owing to the fact that 

 I was there in quest of a rare and elusive little bird. 

 For we who desire to save our birds must keep the 

 private collector in mind ; that injurious person who 

 is ever anxious to secure the very last British-killed 

 specimens of any rare species. And should a species 

 be near its end — in other words, should it be rare — 

 then, says the leader and lawgiver of all this rapacious 

 gang, our right and proper course is to finish it off as 

 quickly as may be, seeing that by so doing we furnish 

 our cabinets with a large number of specimens for the 

 benefits of science and of posterity. The law does 

 not protect our birds and country from these robbers ; 

 they have too many respected representatives in high 

 places, on the benches of magistrates, in the Houses of 

 Parliament, and among important people generally. 

 For are they not robbers and of the very worst descrip- 

 tion ? Those who break into our houses to steal our 

 gold steal trash in comparison ; while these, who are 

 never sent to Portland or Dartmoor, are depriving 

 the country with its millions of inhabitants of one of 

 its best possessions — its lustrous wild life. 



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