FEBRUARY 65 



stood and ministered to. Even so, I lay myself open 

 to the charge of being one of those who 



' Compound for sins they are inclined to 

 By damning those they have no mind to.' 



Well, I must take my chance of that, admitting frankly 

 that, while I cannot see a salmon rise in a likely bit of 

 water without conceiving a strong desire to put a fly 

 over him with the intention of beguiling the fish to 

 death, I never pass a wild bird in a cage without my 

 fingers itching to set it free. A wild bird — that is, a 

 bird framed and clothed by nature for incessant activity 

 in the free air of heaven, not one like a prize canary 

 whose constitution and temperament have become 

 modified through many generations reared in the close 

 atmosphere of human habitations. Canaries know, and 

 therefore pine for, nothing better than the hfe to which 

 they were born ; they have become regular domestic 

 fowls, however sorely their dingy ancestors may have 

 suffered in exchanging the sparkle and light of southern 

 isles for the gloom of British parlours. 



The cruelty of bird-keeping begins with the trade 

 that replenishes the cages. For our own wild birds the 

 legislature has put it in the power of every county 

 council to ensure protection against capture. An order 

 can be had from the Home Ofiice, the Secretary for 

 Scotland, or the Irish Office, prohibiting the taking of 

 birds of any species which it may be considered by the 

 local authority desirable to preserve or increase. It is 

 to that law that we owe the welcome return of the 

 loveliest and liveliest of our finches to districts where 



