20 THE TEINITY FOOT BEAGLES 



destruction, that that modern spirit of humaneness which is opposed 

 to all " blood-sports," as they are elegantly called, does not represent 

 the common consent of civilised man on the subject, but is the 

 expression of the sentiment of a mere party. The sportsman has 

 therefore, prima facie, some locus standi among decent folk. But 

 for a satisfactory solution there must be discussiou : no head 

 counting can conclude the matter. 



It so happens that, as I write, a copy of the Animal World falls 

 into my hands, which contains a sympathetic review of a book which 

 pictures the bodily suffering and mental agony of the hunted hare, 

 and side by side with it a Natural History article on the manners 

 and customs of the youthful cuckoo : which latter must appear from 

 the humanitarian standpoint peculiarly brutal. The young cuckoo 

 when first hatched is a poor creature, but he grows rapidly, and as he 

 does so his back becomes somewhat hollow. With the wings raised 

 this forms a sort of cradle into which the cuckoo, still blind and 

 naked, hoists his fellow-nestlings one by one. As soon as each 

 victim is comfortably seated the cuckoo, with a powerful leg-drive 

 from the nest bottom, neatly projects it into the outer world to die of 

 cold and hunger. So far we are dealing only with Nature as left to 

 herself ; but listen to what follows. 



The naturalist who tells the tale wanted films wherewith to 

 display the matter through the bioscope. So he sallied forth to the 

 nest at what he hoped would be the right time, but was too late : 

 all the fledgling sedge-warblers were already on the floor, and the 

 cuckoo had the nest to himself. Was the naturalist daunted ? Not 

 a bit of it ! He got a fledgling sedge-warbler from a nest adjacent 

 and put it in with the cuckoo, expecting, as this bird was older and 

 stronger and had its eyes open, that he should witness a very superior 

 tussle — and he was not disappointed. The cuckoo got to work at 

 once, and struggled and wriggled till the warbler was on his back, 

 and then — shove ! But by this time the warbler began to realise 

 that he was in a tight place and fought for dear life : he caught 

 himself on the edge of the nest and worked his way back into the 

 nest again, and so the struggle continued, while the naturalist took 

 mental notes and kept the bioscope camera ticking. The records 



