THE MODERN THAMES. 113 



be any law at all or at least there is no authority to 

 enforce it, if it exists. Shooting from hoats and from 

 the towing-path is carried on in utter defiance of the 

 licensing law, of the game law (as applicable to wild 

 fowl), and of the safety of persons who may be passing. 

 The moorhens are shot, the kingfishers have been 

 nearly exterminated or driven away from some parts, 

 the once common black-headed bunting is com- 

 paratively scarce in the more frequented reaches, 

 and if there is nothing else to shoot at, then the 

 swallows are slaughtered. Some have even taken to 

 shooting at the rooks in the trees or fields by the 

 river with small-bore rifles a most dangerous thing 

 to do. The result is that the osier-beds on the eyots 

 and by the backwaters the copses of the river are 

 almost devoid of life. A few moorhens creep under 

 the aquatic grasses and conceal themselves beneath 

 the bushes, water-voles hide among the flags, but the 

 once extensive host of water-fowl and river life has 

 been reduced to the smallest limits. Water-fowl 

 cannot breed because they are shot on the nest, or 

 their eggs taken. As for rarer birds, of course they 

 have not the slightest chance. 



The fish have fared better because they have re- 

 ceived the benefit of close seasons, enforced with more 

 or less vigilance all along the river. They are also 

 protected by regulations making it illegal to capture 

 them except in a sportsmanlike manner; snatching, 

 for instance, is unlawful. Eiverside proprietors pre- 

 serve some reaches, piscatorial societies preserve others, 

 and the complaint indeed is that the rights of the 

 public have been encroached upon. The too exclusive 



I 



