184 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



much better plan for those who are able to prac- 

 tise it prudently is to take their nests, which are 

 more exposed to sight than those of other birds; 

 but they should be taken after the full comple- 

 ment of eggs have been laid, and only at night, 

 so that other birds shall not witness the robbery 

 and fear for their own treasures. Mr. Henry 

 George, in that book of his which has been the 

 delight of so many millions of rational souls, ad- 

 vocates the destruction of all sharks and other 

 large rapacious fishes, after which, he says, the 

 ocean can be stocked with salmon, which would 

 secure an unlimited supply of good wholesome 

 food for the human race. No such high-handed 

 measures are advocated here with regard to the 

 sparrow. Knowledge of nature makes us con- 

 servative. It is so very easy to say, "Kill the 

 sparrow, or shark, or magpie, or whatever it is, 

 and then everything will be right." But there 

 are more things in nature than are dreamt of in 

 the philosophy of the class of reformers repre- 

 sented by the gamekeeper, and the gamekeeper's 

 master, and Miss Ormerod, and Mr. Henry 

 George. Let him by all means kill the sharks, 

 but he will not conquer Nature in that way: she 



