A SANCTUARY'S INFLUENCE.
Rather rashly, perhaps, Lord Desborough wrote the other day to the Times about his sanctuary of Whiteslea, where the fishhawk is a not uncommon visitor. He recorded the sad fact that one was shot outside the pale of the sanctuary. People have jumped to the conclusion that rare birds in that neighbourhood are usually the victims of gunmen, so-called. It should, I think, be put on record that Lord Desborough, Lord Grey, and the Montagues have builded even better than they knew. Quite certainly this great sanctuary—over 2,000 acres in extent and harbouring a hundred species or so— has spread its own doctrine. Most of the neighbours of the sanctuary are very careful to leave the rarer birds unmolested. It is partly due to this attitude of mind, to the general admira- tion roused by the way the sanctuary is conducted, that it has been possible to multiply the numbers of bittern; of Marsh Harriers, and of Montague Harriers, which have a wide range of flight. Doubtless the collector is a menace and oiilogists try to penetrate deviously into the very sanctuary itself. Nevertheless, the doctrine of preservation spreads, especially in the neighbourhood of the sanctuaries, and will spread farther.
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