260 BIRD LIFE IF ENGLAND. 



agreed from the time when Nimrod cut off the ears of 

 early Persian poachers down to to-day, which sees such 

 matters provoking close divisions "in Parliament." 



These questions are a science in themselves a philosophy 

 that is not to be summarized and dismissed in a few words. 

 If, as is more than likely, the next fifty years sees England 

 slowly revert to her condition in Saxon times and become 

 an essentially pastoral country a land of gardens, and 

 orchards, and meadows, for all of them, statistics tell us, are 

 slowly spreading while arable land is dwindling then there 

 is no reason why game of some kinds should not increase 

 and become even more valuable than at present. This points 

 the importance of the great issues which come under con- 

 sideration when a populous nation with an inborn love of 

 fresh air and field sports legislates for the delicate and 

 susceptible fauna with which Nature has endowed its terri- 

 tory. There might well be. a chair of ornithology amongst 

 us, some learned and yet practical professorship where 

 wisdom and observation on field matters might accumulate ; 

 but failing this a better general popular knowledge of game 

 and wild birds is very highly desirable, not only in the 

 curiculums of Cam and Isis, but even in village shrines of 

 learning, and also the grimy benches of city schools where 

 youthful devotees lisp their first homage to that triple- 

 headed diety, the three B's. 



The humbler sportsman's points of touch with legislation 

 effecting him are few and simple. He needs his ten shilling 

 licence " to carry and use a gun," obtained easily in England 

 and Scotland, and with a little more formality in Ireland. 

 This equips him legally, and between the 1st of August and 

 the 1st of April he may shoot to his heart's content on. the 

 seas and estuaries ; between high-water mark and low-water 

 mark of mean tides (with some few and objectionable ex- 

 ceptions) on every beach all round the kingdom ; as also on 

 certain waste lands and warrens. The measure that limits 

 his shooting season to the period of the year when birds are 



