BIRD NOTES ™d NEWS 



Circular fetter issucii (Quarterly bn the Itorjal ^orictri for the 

 protection of iBiros. 



Vol. II.— No. I.] 



London : 3, Hanover Square, W. 



[MARCH 26, 1906. 



THE SOCIETY AND ITS WORK. 



HE questions are sometimes asked 

 by those unfamiliar with the work 

 of bird protection in this and other 

 countries, "Why should birds be 

 protected ? " and, " What has the Society done 

 to protect them ? " What does it want to do ? 



Into the whole subject, scientific and economic, 

 aesthetic and humanitarian, this is not the place 

 to enter. 



I. Why Birds ought to be protected. 



Birds, it may briefly be said, ought to be 

 protected because they are of infinite value in 

 the scheme of Nature ; because they are living 

 and, in many ways, helpless creatures, whom 

 it is a duty to shield from ill usage; because, 

 above all, they form the most beautiful part of 

 that wild life remaining to us which is the salt 

 and savour of a modern and artificial age. X" 

 one wishes to see a birdless England. Few can 

 wish to see an England in which arc none but 

 a few of the commonest and hardiest birds. 

 But fewest of all are the people who realize how 

 completely persecution can sweep away a whole 

 species, and how rapidly the work of " dis- 

 birding" a country can proceed. Vet this 

 persecution and this dis-birding is exactly what 

 is going on in England, and not only in England, 

 but throughout the world. The most beautiful, 

 the noblest, and the most wonderful species are 

 being quickly reduced in numbers: many have 

 been exterminated, many an- on the verge of 

 extinction, while the steady decrease in others 

 can but end in their eventual disappearance il 

 present conditions continue. 



The ignorant cry, "Surely there arc plenty 

 of birds!" misses the whole point. Plenty 

 of birds there may still be, in a sense, in a 

 great part of England, because the persecution 



of one species may mean (for a time) the multi- 

 plication of some other species, and because the 

 grander and finer forms of wild life inevitably 

 disappear before the smaller, more abundant, 

 and more omnivorous tribes are affected. 



In our own country the last century saw 

 s after species lost to us — probably for 

 ever — which were, and might still be, the pride 

 of a naturally rich avifauna. Of the 370 or 

 380 species placed on the list of " British birds,'' 

 some 270 or 280 are or were residents or regular 

 visitors to our islands. Scarcely more than 200 

 can be truthfully called " British " birds to-day. 

 Some thirty species are named by Mr. W. II. 

 Hudson as either having been extirpated, or 

 brought within measurable distance of extirpa 

 tion, in recent years. 



II. From whom Birds need to be protected. 



In the destruction of birds, great and small. 

 there are five principal agents, beyond natural 

 causes and that growth of population which i-> 

 ssarily adverse to the larger and to the 

 more delicate forms of wild life, and is made 

 nil ire so than it need be. 



hirst, there are those who destroy for destruc- 

 tion's sake: the heedless boy who ravages the 

 hedgerows in spring and delights in catapults, 

 air-guns, and stones at all times; the lout with 

 a gun : and the cockney sportsman. They are 

 responsible lor much cruelty, for the killing of 

 various home-birds and migrants, especially 

 nestlings; and for the senseless shooting of 

 sea birds, and occasionally of rare visitants. 



ondly, the bird-catcher, responsible for the 

 decrease of all those birds sought for caging, or 

 for the dishes of a certain class of rich people 

 Goldfinch, Linnet. Lark, Wheatear, Lapwing, 

 etc. This class, like the first-named, requires 

 dealing with chiefly because of the' intolerable 

 amount of ill treatment involved : in the case ol 



