WATER BIRDS 



large and small thronged the beaches, and 

 when the sea teemed with water fowl. Many 

 of the birds I have mentioned in this chapter 

 are on the way to extinction, some have al- 

 ready disappeared forever; a few, happily as 

 a result of protection, 'are increasing. In 

 Japan it is said that when travelling artisans 

 see an eagle, they take out their sketching 

 tablets and record its beautiful shape and 

 attitudes. The barbarians of this part of the 

 world try to shoot it, a fate they have often 

 meted out to every large or unusual bird they 

 came across, even if it were of no value to 

 them, and they left it to rot where it fell. For- 

 tunately times are changing and the people 

 are gradually awakening to the idea that 

 money value in food or plumage, or even in 

 work done for man, is not the only thing for 

 which birds should be protected. We are also 

 beginning to realize that the interest which 

 finds pleasure in the sport of bird destruction 

 is a very limited and a very selfish one, and 

 that the claims of the sportsman are not para- 

 mount to those of the nature student or even 

 of the lover of natural beauty. 



159 



