i88o*J Our Friends and how we Treat them. 2ig 
conceived. It is plain that the majority of the birds trapped 
during the spring months must leave a nest in a state at 
least of partial orphanhood, and we must remember that to 
supply the young with food the constant labour of both 
parents is generally requisite. . 
The question then is, shall the Adi for the preservation ot 
birds not included in the game-list remain, as it now is, a 
mere impotent protest which the nation is too careless and 
indolent to put in force, or is it to be. made a reality ? The 
detection of the offenders would be ridiculously easy. They 
carry with them all the evidence needed for their own con- 
vidtion. Cannot the police be got to examine these men 
when returning with their packages, and to take proceedings 
whenever they find traps, decoys, and captive birds during 
the close season ? Could not country gentlemen see the 
propriety of putting their gamekeepers on the alert, espe- 
cially as the bird-fancier, if not himself a poacher, is sure to 
be a friend and accomplice of poachers ? Could not our 
natural-history societies take simultaneous adtion, at least 
in the shape of memorials to the local authorities, pointing 
out how completely the law is left in abeyance, and urgently 
calling for its enforcement ? Might not the societies form 
in every distridt a nucleus round which the friends of hu- 
manity and the lovers of all that is beautiful in Nature might 
rally ? 
Then as regards the kindred evil of bird-nesting, how 
much more might be done for its suppression than now takes 
place ! In France, where the extirpation of small birds has 
proceeded to a greater length than with us,, and where a 
much larger amount of injury has been experienced in con- 
sequence both to property and persons, energetic attempts 
are now being made by the Government and the local autho- 
rities to lead the public, and especially the young, into a 
different course. “ Ne denichez pas ” — don’t rob nests- is a 
maxim strenuously enforced upon the schoolboy. Lists of 
useful and harmless birds, reptiles, and insedts have been 
drawn up by the Minister of Agriculture, under the advice 
of eminent naturalists, and posted up in every village, and 
all such creatures the countryman is officially exhorted to 
spare and protedt. 
In America there are even State-naturalists whose duties 
are to ascertain what birds, insedts, &c., are harmless and 
what are injurious, and to recommend the former for pre- 
servation. We do not see that any corresponding steps are 
being taken in England. We fear that in most of our 
schools in country distridts, whether “ board ” or “ denomi- 
