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 is foolish 

 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 sesthetic 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 



