EXOTIC BIRDS FOR BRITAIN 179 



would be an improvement in this respect on the 

 native kinds. There are doves belonging to the 

 same genus as stock-dove and wood-pigeon, that 

 have exceedingly good voices, in which the 

 peculiar mournful dove-melody has reached its 

 highest perfection weird and passionate strains, 

 surging and ebbing, and startling the hearer with 

 their mysterious resemblance to human tones. Or 

 a Zenaida might be preferred for its tender 

 lament, so wild and exquisitely modulated, like 

 sobs etherealized and set to music, and passing 

 away in sigh-like sounds that seem to mimic the 

 aerial voices of the wind. 



When considering the character of our bird 

 population with a view to its improvement, one 

 cannot but think much, and with a feeling almost 

 of dismay, of the excessive abundance of the 

 sparrow. A systematic persecution of this bird 

 would probably only serve to make matters 

 worse, since its continued increase is not the 

 cause but an effect of a corresponding decrease 

 in other more useful and attractive species; and 

 if Nature is to have her way at all there must 

 be birds ; and besides, no bird-lover has any wish 

 at see such a thing attempted. The sparrow has 



