2i8 Our Friends and how we Treat them . [April, 
their capture in England is possible is greatly curtailed. 
Hence the interests of the bird-catcher are completely op- 
posed to those of the birds and of the general public. Now 
the bird-catcher looks carefully after number one, whilst the 
birds go unprotected, on the good old principle that what is 
everybody’s business is nobody’s. Throughout the theo- 
retical “ close season ” disreputable-looking lads and men, 
carrying upon their shoulders large, but evidently light, 
packages, discreetly covered with calico or baize, may be 
seen wending their way into the country in the early morning 
and returning at various times from io o clock till noon. 
These raids' are made by preference on Sunday mornings. 
If the observer goes a little farther afield he will see the 
covered cases unpacked and placed ready for aCtion, whilst 
the operator crouches behind a bush or hedge to await the 
result. If successful the bird-catcher packs up his cages 
and returns home, walking calmly and fearlessly past the 
policeman on duty, who never wastes a glance upon him, 
as we have repeatedly witnessed. Perhaps the whole soul 
of the constable is concentrated upon that mystery the 
“ bona fide traveller.” Perhaps he knows nothing at all 
about the Aft in question. Indeed, from . “ information 
which we have received,” we suspeCt that this is too often 
the case. There being no associations, local or national, 
who make it their business to see the A6t put in force, the 
attention of the police authorities is never called to the 
infractions which are daily going on. We cannot lay our 
hands upon a single instance of an offender being prosecuted. 
Our natural-history societies from time to time express their 
regret at the havoc which is taking place, and a few letters 
on the subject occasionally appear in the provincial papers 
and in some of the scientific journals ; but there the matter 
ends. There is no regular concerted aCtion, such as may 
be observed in many matters of much less importance. We 
demand such aCtion. We are not aware whether the Royal 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals can, in 
accordance with its constitution, here interfere, or whether 
its functions are limited to the protection of domestic ani- 
mals. We have indeed stated the claims of our clients, the 
birds, merely from a utilitarian point of view, regarding 
them as the friends of the farmer and the gardener : but on 
the score of humanity the complete suppression of bird- 
catching during the nesting season is no less urgently called 
for. How many broods of young birds perish miserably of 
cold and hunger, whilst their parents are struggling and 
wailing in the cages of the bird-fancier, can scarcely be 
