TN A VILLAGE. 
208 BIRD^__ 
Thus, at Tunbridge 
birds in their open spac^^j^^nd birds'-nesting 
Wells, since 1890, bird-trapping^ and beautiful 
have been .''prohibited on the lar^^^j^^^^^ g^^j^ 
common there ; but, so far as I^^^aratively 
measures have only been taken in com 
large towns, and after the birds have been 
exterminated 
Doubtless the day will come when, law or no 
law, the bird-catcher will find it necessary to go 
warily, lest the people of any place where he maj^ 
be tempted to spread his nets should have formed 
the custom of treating those of his calling some- 
what roughly. That it will come soon is earnestly 
to be wished. Nevertheless, it would be irrational 
to cherish feelings of animosity and hatred against 
the bird-catcher himself, the "man and brother," 
ready and anxious as we may be to take the bread 
out of his mouth. He certainly does not regard 
himself as an injurious or disreputable person; on 
the contrary, he looks on himself as a useful 
member of the community, and in some cases even 
more. Thus, the bird-catcher I have spoken about 
in the first part of this book considered that it 
would go hard with England if his trade were to 
be suppressed. If an}^ one is to be hated or blamed, 
it is the person who sends the bird-catcher into the 
fields ; not the dealer, but he who buys trapped 
