THE PRESERVATION OF GAME 179 



themselves. " One or two specimens, a clutch or two 

 for my own collection will make no difference," the 

 collector argues, or, worse still: " The species is so near 

 extinction that it is too late to save it." How can sense 

 be driven into selfish heads ? 



Let ornithologists be fair ; let them not wrestle with the 

 mote while the beam blinds them. The sportsman will 

 often listen sympathetically to argument, even sacrificing 

 a few head of game for the sake of other species; but the 

 collector, seldom a true naturalist, professes and does not 

 act, a hypocrite at heart who wants the birds protected 

 so that he may possess them, filling his miserly cabinets. 

 Natural history specimens are of value in educational 

 museums and in the hands of private scientific workers, 

 but too easily does the collector persuade himself that he 

 is making use of his collection. Most honest accumulators 

 of specimens for genuine scientific work either give their 

 collections after the special task is ended or leave them 

 to some scientific institution for the benefit of those who 

 will follow after. The true scientist is never selfish; his 

 aim is to gain and spread knowledge. The collector for 

 collecting's sake is a hoarder, a miser, anxious to possess 

 what others have not got; he will even boast that he 

 possesses the " last " of any species. 



Those of us who have more sympathy with the hunted 

 than the hunter should not be blind to the fact that many 

 sportsmen are more generous-minded than the pretended 

 scientific collector. The aim of the scientist, as well as 

 the man who is merely interested in the preservation of 

 animals and plants for humanitarian or other reasons, 

 should be to enlist the sympathies -of land-owners and 

 sportsmen rather than make enemies by calling them hard 

 names. The preserver of game and the land-owner have 

 opportunities of helping science; when he realises that 

 there is interest in his vermin he often adds them to the 



