178 BIRD HAUNTS AND NATURE MEMORIES 



protection has surrounded the rook and daw; they need 

 no further help. The raven, ruthlessly driven from our 

 inland shires, survives upon the coasts and in the wilder 

 hills; there the shepherd rather than the keeper deals 

 with it. Though undoubtedly destructive, its numbers 

 are so far reduced that it deserves protection. The 

 hooded or grey crow and the carrion are hated alike by 

 everyone who has a hen run or a game preserve ; but the 

 natural cunning of their tribe has saved them, and in many 

 places they abound. Neither keeper nor farmer has had 

 much to do with the diminution in the numbers of the 

 chough; the increase of the jackdaw is a more important 

 factor; nevertheless the egg-collector is in his greed hasten- 

 ing the inevitable end. 



Strict preservation of game serves one most useful 

 purpose in the eyes of all who wish to see our rarer birds 

 protected; it is a check on the depredations of that worst 

 enemy of our disappearing avifauna, the unscrupulous 

 collector. There are keepers, unfortunately, who add to 

 their income by shooting birds and taking eggs to supply 

 the market; but there are estates so well guarded by 

 honest men that the collector and his agents cannot enter 

 or trade. There are land-owners whose estates are bird 

 preserves, not game preserves alone, and who are more 

 than anyone responsible for the survival of the remnant 

 of many a species. Where would the eagle, osprey, kite, 

 harriers, bittern, and great skua be to-day were it not for 

 benignant protection ? We are too prone to blame game 

 preservation and the sportsman for the destruction of 

 rare birds; sometimes the men who blame most are the 

 most guilty. Many collectors rave about the scarcity 

 of certain birds, and yet pay high prices for British- taken 

 birds and eggs, encouraging the dealer to seek out the last 

 refuges of the unfortunates. And it is no excuse to say 

 that they only have in their cabinets eggs they have taken 



