i 4 4 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



history evaporates. But set him to stuff birds and collect birds' eggs, and 

 he will not, at all events, grow up a prig, and he may develop into a second 

 Waterton unawares. The harm he will do is infinitesimal. In fifteen years 

 I have only known one rare bird and one rare nest obtained by the unaided 

 efforts of boys. 



As he gets older he makes more notes and kills fewer birds; he has 

 got an interesting hobby, and he may write an interesting book, but he 

 will not necessarily be a monster who collects "for love of killing," or 

 " to make money out of it" ! He may even find himself the possessor of a 

 little common sense, a quality in which his detractors have shown themselves 

 on occasions strangely deficient. 



As a specimen of the rubbish that can be written by an enthusiastic 

 bird protector, and of the astounding simplicity which he can exhibit, I give 

 below a cutting which appeared not long since in a widely circulated London 

 newspaper, one which reflects as little credit on the intelligence of the 

 editor as on that of the author himself, since the absurdity of it is apparent 

 at a glance. Speaking of a sale of rare eggs, including those of the St. 

 Kilda Wren, at Stevens' auction rooms, and protesting against the taking 

 of these eggs, the writer solemnly affirms : " There were five nests containing 

 twenty-three eggs of the St. Kilda Wren, and they sold in all for 2 i6s. 

 The natives of St. Kilda protest strongly against dealers taking these eggs. 

 They depend upon the birds very largely for their food supply, and barter 

 feathers and oil for footstuffs and manufactured goods. It is feared that 

 the breeding stock of the native Wren will soon be exhausted." If words 

 mean anything at all, we are apparently to regard the natives of St. Kilda 

 as persons who, by some occult process, extract oil from the local Wren 

 and afterwards exchange it for " footstuffs." It would be interesting to hear 

 how many native Wrens it takes to produce a gallon of oil. Again, these 

 hardy fowlers, a race generally credited with the power of masticating 

 and digesting salted Puffins and Fulmars, must be pictured henceforth 

 as a society of epicures, who regale themselves on the daintiest of entrees 

 St. Kilda Wrens in aspic much, I suppose, as the Romans used to delight 

 in figpeckers, or the modern Frenchman in his frogs and snails ! 



WEST, NEWMAN AND CO., PRINTERS, HATTON GARDEN, LONDON. 



