108 
BIBDS IN A VILLAGE. 
— that " finer way " which Thoreau found and put 
aside his fowling-piece to practise, and which "A 
Son of the Marshes " advocates in his latest work. 
There can be no doubt that the desire for such an 
improvement is now becoming very general, that a 
kindlier feeling for animal, and especially bird, life 
is growing up among us, and there are signs that 
it is even beginning to have some appreciable 
efiect. The fashion of wearino^ birds is reo^arded 
by most men with pain and reprobation ; and it is 
possible that before long it will be thought that 
there is not much difierence between the action of 
the woman who buys tanagers and humming-birds 
to adorn her person, and that of the man who 
kills the bittern, hoopoe, waxwing, golden oriole, 
and ring-ouzel to enrich his private collection. 
A few words on the latest attempt which has 
been made to naturalize an exotic bird in England 
will not seem out of place here. About eight 
years ago a gentleman in Essex introduced the 
rufous tinamou — a handsome game bird, nearly 
as large as a fowl — into his estate. Up till the 
present time, or till quite recently, these birds 
have bred every year, and at one time they had 
increased considerably and scattered about the 
neiorhbourhood. When it beo*an to increase, the 
neighbouring proprietors and sportsmen generally 
were asked not to shoot it, but to give it a chance, 
