. UNCOMMON AND MEMORABLE 145 



Bulwer's descriptions are faithful and precise, and 

 Mr. Benjamin Rogers (August 20, 1910) and others 

 have contributed accounts of the bird to the Spectator. 

 There are at least ten other authentic examples of 

 the bird occurring in England alone. Though nest- 

 ing from Denmark to Siberia and Northern Persia, its 

 not uncommon visits to England, both in the spring 

 and autumn migrations, make it fully possible that 

 the bird has been so gracious as to nest with us, and 

 Bishop Mathew (July 26, 1919) and Miss Margaret 

 Fowler (August 27, 1910) wrote to the Spectator describ- 

 ing its nesting at Witham, Essex, and Walmer. Mr. 

 Adamson's theory that a rare bird cannot be identified 

 without killing it is both false and pernicious. To the 

 professional necrologist it is of course mere sentimentalism 

 to speak of abusing the partiality of a rare and beautiful 

 bird for these islands. But it is very certain that to 

 " obtain " a specimen of a rare visitor is to obliterate 

 any pleasure or meaning in its visit. It is a pathological 

 delusion of the collector that a heap of bones and feathers 

 in a glass case is a bird. It would be no less accurate to 

 describe the waxwork figures at Madame Tussaud's as 

 human beings. 



10 



