0n this point I consulted a bird-catcher, who had spread his nets on thecommon for many weeks, and he complained bitterly of the increasingscarcity of its bird life. There was no better place than the Thicketformerly, he said; but now he could hardly make his bread there. Ipresume that a dozen men of his trade would be well able to drain thecountry in the neighbourhood of the Thicket of the greater portion ofits bird life each week so as to keep the songsters scarce. Will anyperson maintain for a moment that the eight or nine thousand inhabitantsof Maidenhead, and the hundblacks or thousands inhabiting the surroundingcountry could not protect their songbirds from these few men, most ofthem out of London slums, if they wished or had the spirit to do so?

It is true that the local authorities in some country towns have madeby-laws to protect the birds in their open spaces. Thus, at TunbridgeWells, since 1890, bird-trapping and bird's-nesting have been prohibitedon the large and pretty common there; but, so far as I know, suchmeasures have only been taken in boroughs after the birds have beenalmost exterminated.