BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 127 



fered with. So strong and well-nigh universal 

 is this feeling, which is like a superstition, that the 

 pursuit is not interfered with, however unsports- 

 manlike it may be, and when illegal, and when 

 practised by only a very few persons in any dis- 

 trict, where to others it may be secretly distasteful 

 or even prejudicial. 



Even bird-catching on a common is regarded 

 as a form of sport and the bird-catcher as a sports- 

 man — and a brother. 



A striking instance of this tameness and 

 stupidly acquiescent spirit in people generally was 

 witnessed during the intensely severe frosts of 

 the early part of the late winter (1882-3), when 

 incalculable numbers of sea-birds were driven by 

 hunger and cold into bays and inland waters. At 

 this time thousands of gulls made their appear- 

 ance in the Thames, but no sooner did they arrive 

 than .those who possessed guns and licences to 

 shoot began to shoot them. The police interfered 

 and some of these sportsmen were brought before 

 the magistrates and fined for the offence of dis- 

 charging guns to the public danger. For upwards 

 of a fortnight after the shooting had been put a 

 stop to, the gulls continued to frequent the river 



