INCREASING BIRDS IN BRITAIN 257 



listen to the larks ! Did you ever hear anything like 

 it ! " and so on. 



His host, his eyes cast down, trudged on in glum 

 silence. Finally the young man, carried away by 

 his enthusiasm, stopped and, turning to his com- 

 panion, shouted, " Listen 1 Listen ! Do you hear 

 the larks < " 



" Oh, yes," drawled the other, looking more glum 

 than ever, " I hear them fast enough. And I wish 

 they were all dead ! " 



So with the other charming species. The moan 

 of doves in immemorial elms is a pleasing sound to 

 the poets, but it does not prevent the farmers 

 throughout the land from wishing them all dead ; 

 and every person who possesses a gun is glad to 

 help in their massacre. For the bird is a pest and 

 he who shoots it is doing something for England ; 

 furthermore, shooting it is first-rate sport, not like 

 slaughtering wretched little sparrows or innocent 

 young rooks just out of their windy cradles. And 

 when shot it is a good table-bird, with as much tasty 

 flesh on it as a woodcock or partridge. 



How then can we account for the increase of such 

 a species i One cause is undoubtedly to be found 

 in the removal by gamekeepers of its three chief 

 enemies — ^the carrion crow, magpie, and jay — all 

 these three being great devourers of pigeons' eggs, 

 which of all eggs are most conspicuous and open to 



