124 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



do it, it will be the ruination of England. For 

 what would there be, then, to stop the birds in- 

 creasing? It stands to reason that the whole 

 country would be eaten up." 



Doubtless the man really believed that but for 

 the laborious days that bird-catchers spend lying 

 on the grass, the human race would be very badly 

 off. 



Just after he had finished his protest, three or 

 four linnets flew down and were caught. Taking 

 them from the nets, he showed them to me, re- 

 marking, with a short laugh, that they were all 

 young males. Then he thrust them down the 

 stocking-leg which served as an entrance to the 

 covered box he kept his birds in — the black hole 

 in which their captive life begins, where they were 

 now all vainly fluttering to get out. Going back 

 to the previous subject, he said that he knew very 

 well that many persons disliked a bird-catcher, 

 but there was one thing that nobody could say 

 against him — he wasn't cruel; he caught, but 

 didn't kill. He only killed when he caught a 

 great number of female linnets, which were not 

 worth sending up; he pulled their heads off, and 

 took them home to make a linnet pie. Then, by 



