210 PLEA FOR RARE BIRDS. [PART I, 
he had found, laid wait in ambush, and “secured” 
the mother-bird, by shooting her as she ran up 
to it. 
Now it is no doubt very interesting to know 
that a Harlequin-duck has visited such or such a 
locality, and still more so that it has been so far 
reconciled to the presence of man, as to become, 
to a certain extent, domesticated ; but could not 
these facts be established without the sacrifice of 
the poor lone .vanderer? Again, from the remark- 
able fact that Nightingales are very rarely found 
west of particular boundaries, it is certainly a 
note-worthy incident when one has deviated from 
the law which seems to keep them to the east of 
those limits; but surely the last-mentioned “na- 
turalist” might have been satisfied with his own 
evidence or that of his friends, in proof of the 
poor bird’s visit, without killing it. How can the 
Devonshire people expect to have their ears glad- 
dened with the bird’s sweet song, if that is the 
way they welcome the casual visitors of the spe- 
cies? Of birds which formerly were comparatively 
abundant in the British Islands, one or two species 
may be said to have disappeared from amongst us, 
whilst of others not a few now make their appear- 
ance only at distant and uncertain intervals, too 
