156 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



There is one objection some may make to the 

 scheme suggested here which must be noticed* It 

 may be said that even if exotic species able to 

 thrive in our country were introduced there would 

 be no result ; for these strangers to our groves 

 would all eventually meet with the same fate as our 

 rarer species and casual visitors that is to say, 

 they would be shot* There is no doubt that the 

 amateur naturalist has been a curse to this country 

 for the last half-century, that it is owing to the 

 " cupidity of the cabinet " as old Robert Mudie has 

 it that many of our finer species are exceedingly 

 rare, while others are disappearing altogether* But 

 it is surely not too soon to look for a change for the 

 better in this direction* Half a century ago, when 

 the few remaining great bustards in this country 

 were being done to death, it was suddenly remem- 

 bered by naturalists that in their eagerness to possess 

 examples of the bird (in the skin) they had neglected 

 to make themselves acquainted with its customs 

 when alive* Its habits were hardly better known 

 than those of the dodo and solitaire* The reflection 

 came too late, in so far as the habits of the bird 

 in this country are concerned ; but unhappily the 

 lesson was not then taken to heart, and other fine 

 species have since gone the way of the great bustard* 

 But now that we have so clearly seen the disastrous 

 effects of this method of " studying ornithology/' 



