126 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



Because they were not wanted — because people 

 were such fools that they now preferred to shoot 

 at pigeons. He hated pigeons ! Gentlemen used 

 to shoot starlings at matches ; and if you had the 

 making of a bird to shoot at, you couldn't get a 

 better than the starling — such a neat bird! He 

 had caught hundreds — thousands — and had sold 

 them well. But now nothing but pigeons would 

 they have. Pigeons! Always pigeons! He 

 caught starlings still, but what was the good of 

 that? The dealers would only take a few, and 

 they were worth nothing — no more than green- 

 finches and yellow-hammers. 



My colloquy with my enemy on the common 

 tempts me to a fresh digression in this place — 

 to have my say on a question about which much 

 has already been said during the last three or 

 four decades, especially during the 'sixties, when 

 the first practical efforts to save our wild-bird life 

 from destruction were made. 



There is a feeling in the great mass of people 

 that the pursuit of any wild animal, whether fit 

 for food or not, for pleasure or gain, is a form 

 of sport, and that sport ought not to be inter- 



