12 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Game Laws, was not provided for in these Acts, and that it was 

 not within their power to arrest and detain any one suspected of 

 an offence until his name and address had been verified. It is 

 unfair to blame the police for the failure of bird protection ; 

 they were so hampered by red tape and received so little public 

 support if they attempted to carry out the law that they ceased 

 to make efforts. Far too large a proportion of magistrates were 

 interested in no birds except those on the game-list, and others 

 considered that the police were wasting their time when they 

 strove to protect mere birds. In several cases actions were 

 brought against the police for illegal arrest and were won, but 

 in spite of this many enthusiastic police officers, knowing that 

 they had the spirit if not the letter of the law behind them, 

 accomplished much good deterrent work by mere " bluff," a 

 fact which was made public in the evidence of some of the 

 Chief Constables. Many professional bird-catchers, however, 

 were clever enough to study the legal points and openly defied 

 the police. Within the last few years and especially during the 

 war, bird protection has been a dead letter ; only through the 

 intervention of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 

 and a few private individuals has anything been accomplished. 

 Mr. Sharpe's Bill was intended to "simpHfy and consolidate " 

 the existing Acts and Orders, and it suggested a few excellent 

 alterations, the chief one being to transpose the whole idea of 

 protective measures. The close time was to be for all birds 

 with the exception of the few which are proved harmful ; the 

 schedule to be not of protected but exempted species. The 

 County Councils might apply for an extension of this schedule, 

 which, in the draft, included only Sparrow, Starling, Rook, Crow, 

 Wood-Pigeon, Jackdaw, Jay, Thrush and Blackbird. A second 

 short schedule included a few very rare birds, and for these the 

 penalties for killing or capturing were to be greatly increased to 

 lessen the chance of profit being made if the specimens were 

 not confiscated. A most useful clause permitted, under restric- 



