Oh yes .... that's the old, old adage. In modern terms, it would probably be "If it's not shot, it's not got ." Yesterday I was dipping into my ancient copy of The Birds of Lancashire by one Clifford Oakes M.B.O.U. ( pub 1953). It's a hefty old book. A large proportion of the "unusual" birds recorded in that book finished up getting shot. And often, stuffed. I suspect many of them are in front rooms right now, or in museums. And I suspect that, if they didn't get shot, the record would probably not have been accepted. But what I wonder is ... what did they think about it ? The shooters. Were they totally happy with it ? Blasting the guts out of all those beautiful birds. And no doubt leaving lots of them to a slow and painful death. Had I lived in those times, would I have been happy with it ? I remember vividly as a ±10-year-old going into Newark's dinky museum and being amazed at the array of glass cases full ..often too full ... of stuffed birds. I've written about them .... the way many of the specimens were incorrectly labelled ! I told them about it, and told them what they should be, but on subsequent visits nothing had changed. So, having been exterminated, they finished up being used to misinform the public ... brilliant eh !? That sort of crap response could easily have turned me into a bitter old cynic. Instead of the wonderful person I actually am. Occasionally. Sometimes. Hey...I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that they still had the same crap labels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So ...that was all a bit sad. We need a stunning bit of music .... The sort of music that will possess your heart ....
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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