156 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



There is one objection some may make to the 

 scheme suggested here which must be noticed. It 

 may be said that even if exotic species able to 

 thrive in our country were introduced there would 

 be no result; for these strangers to our groves 

 would all eventually meet with the same fate as our 

 rarer species and casual visitors — ^that is to say, 

 they would be shot. There is no doubt that the 

 amateur naturalist has been a curse to this country 

 for the last half-century, that it is owing to the 

 " cupidity of the cabinet " — ^as old Robert Mudie has 

 it — ^that many of our finer species are exceedingly 

 rare, while others are disappearing altogether. But 

 it is surely not too soon to look for a change for the 

 better in this direction. Half a century ago, when 

 the few remaining great bustards in this country 

 were being done to death, it was suddenly remem- 

 bered by naturalists that in their eagerness to possess 

 examples of the bird (in the skin) they had neglected 

 to make themselves acquainted with its customs 

 when alive. Its habits were hardly better known 

 than those of the dodo and solitaire. The reflection 

 came too late, in so far as the habits of the bird 

 in this country are concerned ; but unhappily the 

 lesson was not then taken to heart, and other fine 

 species have since gone the way of the great bustard. 

 But now that we have so clearly seen the disastrous 

 effects of this method of " studying ornithology," 



