FRANK B. COOMBS. 159 
tained in its present extent and in some measure increased 
by regulated use and prudent management, but open to 
complete exhaustion by a few years of unchecked wastage ; 
and lastly, as a supply not to be indiscriminately levied upon 
either by wholesale snarers who furnish the public through 
the markets, or on the other hand to be wholly dedicated to 
a certain class of sportsmen whose sole pleasure is in bag- 
ging a maximum quantity in a minimum time. Both the 
pot-hunter and his more respectable rival have rights in the 
common property, but each must be restrained within decent 
bounds by law or his own sense of the fitness of things. 
Of the use of our handsomely plumaged birds by the 
milliner it is needless to speak at much length. It isfoolish 
to argue that wings and feathers are not among the most 
graceful of ornaments in form and color, and in their blend- 
ing with feminine head-gear—every woman knows better! 
The only appeal is in asking them to forego one dear luxury 
for humanity’s sake, and to remember that the birds they 
admire at mountain and countryside are the fewer for its 
indulgence. 
Putting aside all question of utility, however, there is 
enough in the purely esthetic aspect of our subject to fur- 
nish motive for interest in birds and their manners. Few 
can fail of kindly wonder at the way of their fare and wel- 
fare, in the occupations which busy them, in their domestic 
arrangements and in their exquisite adaptation to manifold 
environments. In form and structure they are diverse as 
the open ocean, dense forest, rolling plain, and farm-dotted 
hill and valley, which offer such a congenial home to some 
member of the feathered family; and there is no nook in 
Nature’s larder but has its specially favored set of 
pensioners. 
By lake and river margin long-legged Crane and Heron 
stand patiently in the reeds or pace their frontier like noise- 
less sentinels. Over them flies the rattling Kingfisher to his 
fishing ground in deeper water. Woodpecker, Nuthatch, and 
