CHAPTER III 



Birds and their Rights 



" As the sweet voice of a bird, 

 Heard by the lander in a lonely isle 

 Moves him to think what kind of bird it is, 

 That sings so delicately clear, and make 

 Conjecture of the plumage and the form." 



Frankly it must be admitted that the idea of retiring to 

 an island was not spontaneous. It vi^as evolved from a 

 sentimental regard for the w^elfare of bird and plant life. 

 Having pondered upon the destructive instinct which 

 prevails in mankind, having seen that, though the offences 

 which man commits against the laws of Nature are promptly 

 detected and assuredly punished, they are yet repeated 

 over and over again, and having more pity for the victims 

 of man's heartlessness and fdly than regard for the conse- 

 quences which man suffers in the blows that Nature inflicts 

 as she recoils, the inevitable conclusion was that moral 

 suasion was of little purpose — that there must be more of 

 example than precept. 'In this particular case how speedy 

 and effective has been the result will be seen later on. 

 Man destroys birds for sport, or in mere wantonness, and 

 the increasing myriads of insect hosts lay such toll upon 

 his crops and the fruit of the earth which by the exercise 

 of high intelligence and noble perseverance he has im- 

 proved and made plentiful, that the national loss is to be 

 counted by hundreds of thousands. In this, as in all 

 other interferences with natural laws, we blunder unless we 

 reckon 



"With that 

 Fixed arithmic of the universe. 

 Which meteth good for good, ill for ill. 

 Measure for measure." 



