i88o.] Our Friends and how we Treat them . 217 
in spite of such considerations scarcely any class of animated 
beings have been so ruthlessly and wantonly persecuted. 
Setting on one side, therefore, all other supposed causes 
of the increase of noxious vermin, and all proposed agencies 
for their destruction, it will not be useless to inquire into the 
growing scarcity of small birds in this country, and into its 
origin. 
Foremost among the enemies of our feathered auxiliaries 
stands that unlovely being the bird-catcher or bird-fancier. 
His mission appears to be the sale of all such birds as 
possess anything attractive either in their plumage or in 
their song. He has a den — perhaps in the Seven Dials or 
in Whitechapel — where a number of unhappy goldfinches, 
linnets, larks, blackbirds, nightingales, and the like, are 
committed to close confinement until purchased by some 
man or boy of pseudo-ornithological propensities. As the 
captives are rarely supplied with proper food, or otherwise 
treated at all in accordance with their wants, their cage-life, 
if not merry, is at least short, and there is a brisk and con- 
stant demand for victims new. To ensnare these is one of 
the main points of the bird-fancier’s craft. For this purpose 
he undertakes expeditions in all suburban districts, and is 
sometimes found as far as 50 miles out of town in search of 
his prey. He has his decoys and his lime-twigs, and his 
cunningly-devised “ calls ” for imitating the note of the 
species he hopes to entrap, and his success is unfortunately 
much greater than he deserves. His calling, be it remarked, 
is perfectly legal, except where he commits adts of trespass, 
carries off the eggs of pheasants and partridges, &c. — sins 
for which he has a very strong inclination. 
Some years ago an ACt was indeed duly passed by the 
Legislature for imposing a little wholesome and much-needed 
restraint upon the doings of this worthy. The disciples of 
the late Charles Waterton pleaded that, if these serviceable 
little creatures are to exist at all, a “ close time ” during the 
breeding season must be allowed them, just as in the perfectly 
similar case of game. During this time, if we rightly under- 
stand the provisions of the statute, neither shooting, snaring, 
nor nest-taking was to be permitted. Never has a parlia- 
mentary enactment proved such a dead letter. No one seeks 
or cares to enforce it. It is simply ignored. It so happens 
that at this very time, during which the snaring of birds is 
legally prohibited, and when it is especially fatal to the 
perpetuation of the species, their capture is particularly easy. 
Some of the victims sought for are birds of passage, and, if 
they enjoy immunity whilst nesting, the time during which 
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