240 Post Mortem Reports. 



SiBEEiAN Goldfinch ,(cock). (Dr. Amsler, Eton, Windsor)' 

 Cause of death, enteritis, of a septicsemic nature. 



Sham A (o"). (AV. T. Eogers, Brentwood, Essex). Tlie cause 

 of deatl) was pneumo-cnteritis. 



Canakv (9). (Mrs. Jack, Sidcup). The cause of death 

 Avas pneumonia and acute fatty degeneration of the liver. 



Staxlky Takkakket (cf). (J. T. Smith, Kendal). The cause 

 of death was pericarditis and myscarditis togetlier with peritonitis 

 and inflammation of the liver. The thoracico-abdominal cavity 

 was filled witli fluid. Ilie heart wa-s onla,rij;-ed, soft, and puncta- 

 ted with small wliilish spots and the pericardial sac was com- 

 I>]etely adhcront to the outer walls of the heai't. The liver was 

 enlarged, paler than usual and very fragile. When this condition 

 is present, 1 usually find parasites in the peritoneal cavity, but 

 in this case they were absent. 



Canaky (9). (Mrs. Jack, Sidcup). Cause of death, in- 

 flanunation of bowels. 



Am^wcred hy post: — Lady Kathleen Pilkington; Mrs. Travis, 

 Podmoi'c Grange, Stourbridge. 



BiKij Protection : " In Greece the laws al)out shooting 

 wild birds are so little enforced, it is very easy to buy a licence, 

 and shooting allowed evei'ywhere, that every spring and <autumn 

 thnusaiuh. of ]ioor migrants fall a victim to stujiidity and ignorance. 



" M,y only consolation is that most of the shooters are 

 very bad shots, so more birds escape than would otherwise be the 

 case. 



" About the plague of grass Jioppcrs I can only tell ydii that 

 the present Minister of Agriculture offered to pay If. for each 

 largf! l)ag of grass -hoppers, but that few people really cared to 

 earn tlie money, they preferred to sit and cry over the damage."' 



So Wi'ites a liady living in Greece. 



The law in the Bidtish Isles is very strict against bird- 

 catchers and fanciers taking birds, especiallj^ during the close season, 

 j'^et country boys and farmers de.sti-oy them wholesale, the former by 

 robbing the nests, and the latter by poisoning. During the early 

 part of this summer in consequence of the dry weather, thousands 

 of thrushes, blackbirds, etc., have died from starvation, the dry 

 weather either destroying the slugs, worms, etc., or driving them 

 into obscurity and beyond the reach of the parent birds. Snow in 

 March and April causes a g<i-eat mortality. The gardener and fruit- 

 grower destroy bull-finches, hawfinches, etc., by the hundred. 



One may witness the natural destruction of birds during 

 the close season, but the law does not permit one to take them 

 with the (d)ject of preserving their lives in cages. 



HENRY GRAY, M.R.C.V.S. 



IMPORT ANT. --Mr. Grn;/ vUl he oul of town during the 

 ichole of August and requests fluil memhers do not send any 

 bodies for e^aminatiaiv during that montJir 



