226 
BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
ingly ungracious on my part to find fault with a 
measure which, albeit not all that we desire, 
marks so great an advance, and which has for 
its author so true a friend to birds as Sir Herbert 
Maxwell. It would be more practical to consider 
and answer by anticipation certain reasons which 
many persons, including county councillors, will 
find for regarding that part of the Bill relating 
to the robbing of wild birds' eggs with disfavour. 
I remember that Richard Jefferies, in one of his 
works, while inveighing bitterly against that un- 
speakable scoundrel the bird-catcher, and asking to 
have him swept out of the country lanes, at the 
same time treats all those who would wish to inter- 
fere with the schoolboy's prescriptive right to rob 
the birds of their eggs to a fine burst of scorn. 
The pastime of nest-seeking, he contended, was like 
an instinct in boys, and had a most salutary effect 
on them, physical and mental, training them to 
observant habits and quickness of sight and judg- 
ment, and giving them a knowledge of wild bird 
life and nature which they could not otherwise 
acquire. With all this I thoroughly agree. I 
should be sorry at any legislation that would have 
the effect of making English boys less hardy, 
adventurous, and lovers of the open air than they 
now usually are. My belief is that there are no 
boys in the world their equals in physical beauty 
