PBOTEGTION OF BIBDS IN THE PABES 279 



annually becomes less ; so little is it where any 

 vigilance is exercised, that it would not have 

 been worth while to write even these few para- 

 graphs but for the opportunity it gives me of 

 returning to a subject dwelt upon in the opening 

 chapter ; for this destructiveness on the part of 

 a few but serves the more fully to illustrate the 

 contrary spirit — the keen and kindly interest in 

 the wild bird life of our open spaces which is 

 almost universal among the people. In the 

 volume dealing with East London, in his enor- 

 mous work on the ' Life and Labour of the 

 People,' Mr. Charles Booth has the following- 

 significant passage : ' The hordes of barbarians 

 of whom we have heard, who, issuing from their 

 slums, will one day overwhelm modern civilisa- 

 tion, do not exist. There are barbarians, but 

 they are a handful, a small and decreasing 

 percentage, a disgrace but not a danger.' A 

 more absolute confirmation of the truth of these 

 words than the general behaviour of the people 

 who visit the parks, even in the poorest and 

 most congested districts, could not be found. 

 As a rule, when a small park is first opened in 

 some densely populated district, where no public 

 open space previously existed, the people rush 



