Excerpt from The Natural History of South Africa, Vol. 1 of 4
The series of volumes of which this is the first are intended to supply information about the ways and habits of the creatures of veld, forest, mountain, and stream, so that school teachers, senior pupils, and the general public may have a ready means of learning to distinguish friend from foe in the lower animal kingdom.
Wherever civilised man penetrates he destroys the native animals and birds indiscriminately. His children are encouraged to sally forth with catapult, air gun, and shot gun and wantonly destroy the lives of innocent and often eminently useful creatures. He even encourages them to make collections of the eggs of wild birds, thereby diminishing the numbers of insectivorous birds which are of immense economic value to the country.
When I think of my youthful days, I burn with shame and remorse, for, in the light of knowledge subsequently gained, I am conscious of having taken the lives of numbers of animals and birds of great economic value, and the lives of many others, although of little or no value economically, yet innocent of harm as far as man is concerned.
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