CORNISH HUMOUR 171 



there's no God and paints his pictures with a 

 knife ? " 



Here is another instance from Penzance. There 

 is a public garden in the town, with beds of flowers, 

 benches, a bandstand, a fountain, and at one side some 

 tall elm trees with a rookery. The little fishes in the 

 basin of water attracted a pair of kingfishers, and 

 they haunted the gardens, flashing a wonderful blue 

 in the eyes of the people. But they took the fry 

 the little sickly fishes which had cost the town 

 several shillings and the Town Council forthwith 

 had them destroyed. I should have said that only 

 in a Cornish town could so abominable an instance of 

 Philistinism be found had I not witnessed an even 

 worse one when staying at Bath, when the Corporation 

 of that noble town ordered the killing of the king- 

 fishers that frequented the old Roman baths. 



After the kingfishers had been destroyed at Pen- 

 zance, the question of the rooks came up for discus- 

 sion, and it was resolved to shoot the birds and pull 

 the nests down ; but here, as I was informed, the town 

 clerk intervened and pleaded so eloquently for the 

 birds that they were spared. Now one day a group 

 of old men, habitues of the gardens, were sunning 

 themselves there and discussing this question of the 

 rooks. The birds were there, repairing their old 

 nests in the elms with a good deal of caw, caw. 

 They were as talkative as the old men, but " deep 

 in their day's employ " at the same time. Joining in 

 the conversation, I expressed my opinion of the 

 councillors for wanting to destroy the rookery, and 



