CHAPTER XXIV 



BIRD SANCTUARIES AND BIRD CLUBS 



IT is remarkable how many prospective 

 Sanctuary owners disregard altogether the 

 tastes and simple requirements of the 

 would-be feathered tenants. Only yesterday 

 an individual was talking glibly of his plans for 

 a newly acquired possession, a few acres of land 

 along the shore, where hitherto the trees and 

 bushes, the vines and reeds and waving grasses 

 had grown in wild profusion. Among them 

 many a bird had found cover, food and home. 

 Now the new owner dilated on what he would 

 do to this spot of rare beauty. He would cut 

 those reeds and vines and all the tall, waving 

 grass ; he would trim the over-hanging branches 

 of the trees. But his crowning triumph was to 

 be at the mouth of the stream. It was where 

 the Bitterns and Cranes and Herons had fished 

 from time immemorial. Kingfisher nested in 



[219] 

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