260 BIRDS AND MAN 



such a law would be a monstrous injustice, and 

 an unwarrantable interference with the liberty 

 of the subject; that there is really no more 

 harm in collecting birds and their eggs than in 

 collecting old prints, Guatemalan postage stamps, 

 samplers, and first editions of minor poets ; that 

 to compel them to give up their treasures, which 

 have cost them infinite pains and thousands of 

 pounds to get together, and to abandon the 

 pursuit in which their happiness is placed, would be 

 worse than confiscation and downright tyranny ; 

 that the private collectors cannot properly be 

 described as law-breakers and injurious persons, 

 since they count among their numbers hundreds 

 of country gentlemen of position, professional men 

 (including clergymen), noblemen, magistrates, 

 and justices of the peace, and distinguished 

 naturalists — all honourable men. 



To put in one word on this last very deUcate 

 point : Where, in collecting, does the honourable 

 man draw the line, and sternly refuse to enrich 

 his cabinet with a long-wished-for specimen of 

 a rare British species? — a specimen "in the 

 flesh," not only "British killed" but obtained 

 in the county ; not killed wantonly, nor stolen 



