BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 103 



tenpence ; for hen birds fourpence, or less. I dare 

 say that eightpence was what he hoped to get, seeing 

 that young male linnets are not unfrequently sold 

 by London dealers for sixpence and even fourpence. 

 Goldfinches ran to eighteenpence, sometimes as 

 much as two shillings. Starlings he had made a lot 

 out of, but that was all past and over. Why s" 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 S* The dealers would only take 

 a few, and they were worth nothing — ^no more than 

 greenfinches and yellowhammers. 



« * «> ♦ • ♦ 



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 



