202 
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
over-anxious to make thincrs agjreeable to all 
who voyage with them ; that among their male 
passengers, few or many, there are always two or 
three or more men of that class who cannot be 
happy except when engaged in killing or torturing 
something. The subject is one which should be 
brought to the attention of sea-captains, more 
especially of those who are in command of large 
passenger-boats. Further, it may be well to sug- 
gest here that this is a subject deserving the 
attention of the directors and shareholders of the 
large steamship companies, since it is a fact that 
a very large majority of passengers not only take 
no part in this abominable persecution of sea- 
birds, but are pained at witnessing it, although too 
timid to denounce it openly. 
There is a feeling in the great mass of people 
that the pursuit of any wild animal, fit for food 
or not, whether for pleasure or gain, is a form of 
sport, and that sport ought not to be interfered 
with. So strong and well-nigh universal is this 
feeling, which is like a superstition, that the 
pursuit is not interfered with, even when most 
unsportsmanlike, and when illegal, and when 
practised by only a very few persons in any 
district, and when to most others it may be 
secretly distasteful or even prejudicial. 
