220 THE PROTECTION OF WILD BIRDS IN ESSEX.
increased, time and distance have been diminished ; so that now the
townsman can in a few hours make fearful havoc among the nests.
The local folk who see what is going on say to themselves : If I
don't take the eggs some one else will" ; and between the two,
common terns' eggs taken in the morning become prime plovers' eggs
before night in Leadenhall Market !
But on the other hand the neighbourhood of man alone does
not drive away the birds ; in many instances the birds breed regu-
larly close to light-houses and cottages, and that fallacy would soon
be dispelled by an inquiry into the number of unpinioned wild-fowl
breeding in the London parks.
The truth being that where man is the greatest foe, birds tend to
become wilder and wilder ; but where man's presence means protec-
tion, the most familiar of the species survive the best. For this
reason the house-martins are fond of breeding in window-corners, as
a home where the sparrows dare not eject them—too often they
escape the sparrows only to fall at the point of the housemaid's
broom.
No little of the blame lies with what is called the increase of
Natural History. If it goes on increasing—which Heaven forbid—
it will soon be all ancient history ! The ambition of the student is
too often fixed upon the possession of spoilt samples of God's gifts ;
and the love of Nature is swallowed up in the greed of collection.
We do not generally turn each other into mummies as a proof of
love, nor send our own children to the taxidermist because they are
such fine specimens ! Some debased species of collector even think
it to their credit to own bought samples, with the result that the
professional exterminator supplies their demand.
The rarest flowers and insects are ravished by their sacrilegious
hands, till sometimes not a specimen remains ; and their great
success is bought at the price of eternal robbery of God and man.
Sometimes the work of perdition is even done in education's
name. The institution of Botany classes has to my knowledge stripped
a whole district in Wales of every rare plant. Every precious
creation is threatened with the same fate ! There is much truth in
that interesting story of "An Unexpected Visitor." It would not be
safe for an angel to show his wings on earth in these latter days.
(2.) The other argument is that we are too late ; that there are so few
shore-birds left that they are not worth preserving. After the history
of Adam and Eve, religious people are found who say this—without