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ON THE PRESERVATION OF OUR INDIGENOUS 

 FAUNA AND FLORA. 



By Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., &c. 



[We are indebted to Sir John Lubbock for the following Report of his 

 Address to the Selborne Society on May 20th. — Ed.] 



The Selborne Society is especially necessary in a populous 

 country like our own. Our rarer animals and plants are gradually 

 disappearing. Parliament has done what it could in passing wise 

 laws, and County Councils are doing their best to carry them 

 into effect. They can, however, effect comparatively little, unless 

 they have the general support of the community. 



"We hear a good deal about the love of Nature, but it often 

 takes an unfortunate form. It was said of King William Rufus 

 that he "loved the tall deer like a father"; but what he loved 

 was killing them, and I am afraid that the love of animals shown 

 by many people is of that description. 



Again, many show their love of flowers by gathering them ; 

 sometimes getting very soon tired of them and throwing them 

 away. I have often been asked why I do not gather flowers when 

 I am so fond of them ; but I always say that is the very reason 

 why I prefer to leave them where they are growing. 



The use of the word sport is I think unfortunate. A great 

 deal more interest is to be got out of animals by keeping them 

 alive than by putting them to death. 



Only recently a friend of mine saw seventeen Nightingales 

 stuck upon a gamekeeper's cottage, and when he asked the game- 

 keeper why in the world he killed these charming little birds, the 

 man said that they made such a noise at night that they kept his 

 young Pheasants awake. 



At the same time it must be confessed that the strict pro- 

 tecting which is necessary for the preservation of game does also 



