BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



of Birds Scholarship at Meerut College : Mr. 

 Jesse wrote : — 



It will not only be a benefit to the fortunate winner of 

 the Scholarship, but will act as an excellent advocate of 

 the Society and its aims, particularly amongst the Indians 

 themselves. I am requested by the Committee (com- 

 posed mostly of Indian gentlemen) of Meerut College to 

 convey to the President, Fellows, Members, and 

 Associates of the R.S.P.B. their grateful thanks for the 

 ^15 to be employed in founding a special scholarship, 

 to be named alter the Society, for an Essay dealing with 

 the objects of the R.S.P.B. 



Lord Loreburn and Mr. Wilfred Scawen Blunt were 

 nominated for election as Vice-Presidents of the 

 Society ; Mrs. Bruce, of Sumburgh, and Mr. W. S. 

 Blunt, and Miss E. C. Barker, of Chelsea, were 

 elected Fellows ; and Mr. John Elliot, of Hoylake, 

 Life Fellow ; Lieut. -Col. Stephenson Clarke and 

 Miss Edith Cole were elected Life Members ; 

 and 28 ordinary Members were elected. 



LADY GREY. 



In the sad death of Lady Grey, which took place 

 on February 4th as the result of a carriage accident, 

 the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds loses 

 more than a Fellow and Vice-President ; for she 

 was one of the few with whom the cause for which 

 the Society exists was an instinct and an intuition. 

 Whether in her Northumberland home or in her 

 cottage near Winchester, both of which she pre- 

 ferred to London and London society, she did not 

 merely protect or patronise nature, but loved to 

 live near nature's heart. " One who knew her," 

 writing in the Manchester Guardian on some 

 points in Lady Grey's strong individuality, says : 



" In all her relationships there was a background 

 of proud reserve, a sense of something aloof, 

 untamed and untamable, which gave zest to every 

 moment spent in her company. It was the element 

 in her which lay at the bottom of her passionate 

 love of nature and of all the wild, shy dwellers in 

 her secret places. She was always conscious of 

 the call of the wild, and was perhaps never quite 

 so happy as when feeding the squirrels, who used 

 to come fearlessly in through the library window 

 at Falloden, or lying, as she often did, for hours at 

 a time among the reeds bordering the Itchen, 

 listening to the busy chatter of the sedge-birds, 

 watching a stray dipper curtseying on a stone, or 

 the swooping flight of the swallows over the tran- 

 quil stream." 



In the Speaker, above the initials " W.H. II.," 

 another writer dwells on the same characteristic 

 features of Lady Grey's personality, and relates 

 the following little incident to illustrate her keen 

 sympathy with every creature about her. 



" It was when she was suffering, when for a long 

 period she was constrained to lead the quietest of 



lives, most of her time being passed in the country. 

 She was resting in a canvas chair on the lawn at 

 the Hampshire cottage one evening, and we were 

 indoors deep in talk when we were all at once 

 startled at hearing her exclaim, 'You have taken 

 it — you have it now ! It is my bird! Drop it !' 

 Jumping up we ran out and saw her standing on 

 the lawn, her face white, her eyes shining with 

 anger ; on the path on the other side of the little 

 dividing sweetbriar hedge stood a big burly fellow 

 staring stupidly at her. 'Oh, yes, I've got it right 

 enough,' he said presently. ' It is yours, you say? 

 Very well ; there it is,' and pulling a young thrush 

 out of his pocket he tossed it clown and went off in 

 dudgeon. The bird fluttered into safe hiding, but 

 it was some minutes before she recovered from her 

 agitation. It had cost her acute pain, yet I could 

 not help congratulating myself at having witnessed 

 the incident ; for in that moment something new- 

 had been added to a face always gracious and 

 noble. It was the instant kindling in it of her 

 intense hatred of all wanton cruelty, and that 

 unconscious cruelty which will cause a dull un- 

 imaginative man to turn aside to take up a young 

 bird, not yet able to escape by flying, for his 

 children to play with or to see it perish miserably 

 in a cajie." 



NOTES. 

 Bird-Protection in Ceylon. 



Several items of interest to Bird Protectors come 

 from the Colonies. In Ceylon, says the Times of 

 Ceylon (January 2nd, 1906). an Ordinance is to be 

 introduced into the Legislature to amend the law 

 relating to the Protection of Wild Birds, by 

 entirely prohibiting the destruction of certain 

 scheduled birds, and by making it an offence to 

 possess or export the skins and feathers of such 

 birds. It also empowers Government agents to 

 fix close seasons for birds named in a second 

 schedule, to which additions may be made by the 

 Governor. This promises an excellent measure, 

 on the lines of the edict in force in India, and it 

 would be well if all British Colonies at least would 

 pass a similar law for the preservation of the 

 plume-birds and the extirpation of the plume- 

 hunter. It will, however, necessitate a sharp 

 scrutiny on the exports from Ceylon of skins and 

 feathers. 



In the West Indies. 



The Leeward Islands Free Press (September 

 30th, 1905) publishes an article dealing with the 

 immense benefit to crops rendered by the birds of 

 the West Indies ; and as the contribution is repub- 

 lished by the Agricultural News, issued in con- 

 nection with the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture of the West Indies, it may be taken to 



