Abstract
MANY of our birds are now protected by law, at certain seasons of the year. But unhappily rare visitants are mercilessly killed. Last year a pair of Hoopoes frequented my grounds both in the spring and autumn. It was a great pleasure to see this bird (of which Horapollo wrote that it was worthy to be “the sceptre of the gods on account of its gratitude”), on the lawn, busily searching for insects, or alighting on the surrounding trees. Every lover of nature will sympathise with my household and myself, in our distress that they have been shot; not even for the miserable satisfaction of the mere collector, but far worse, that their plumage might be stuck on a lady's head-gear. To shoot storks, spoonbills, bee-eaters, hoopoes, &c., which might be regular visitants and nest here, is a very different thing from securing chance arrivals from remote regions, which could never be naturalised in England.
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F., C. Destruction of Rare Birds: White Tom Cats. Nature 7, 464 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/007464a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/007464a0
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