12 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



of the meeting a procession, headed by the Yatton 

 Band, inarched to the Ridgeway, where ten lime 

 trees were planted. The children carried flags, 

 and the site of the Tree-planting ceremony was 

 gay with bunting. 



WESTMORELAND. 

 Warcop, one of the few remaining homes of the 

 ancient Rush Bearing ceremony, had had two 

 years' practice in the newer Bird and Tree Day 

 Festival, so that village and school were fully 

 equal to the occasion. The presentation of the 

 Challenge Shield was made in the presence of a 

 numerous company in the Temperance Hall on 

 the afternoon of December 21st, by Major Nanson, 

 C.A., Mayor of Appleby, and a member of the 

 County Education Authority. On the platform, 

 which was decorated with plants and fairy lamps, 

 were some thirty of the head scholars— the girls 

 in white, the boys in foresters' dress— grouped 

 round the crowned "queen" of the festival, who 

 bore her wand of office. In the course of an 

 inspiring speech, Major Nanson said that the 

 Education Committee had resolved to foster 

 school gardens, and had prepared a scheme 

 which included their formation, management, and 

 cropping. The grant earned for the subject was 

 to be paid over to the management to meet 

 expenses. Each boy would sell the produce of 

 his plot, handing the money to the teacher, keep 

 an account, and at the end of the season receive 

 50 per cent, of the proceeds.— Mr. Tipper, Secre- 

 tary to the Westmoreland Education Committee, 

 said the Committee were very glad indeed to see 

 this Nature Study work going on ; it had been 

 carefully watched by them, and he congratulated 

 the master of Warcop School (Mr. H. Jackson), 

 the scholars, the managers, and the parents upon 

 the result achieved. In the evening a concert was 

 held, the children entertaining a large audience 

 with songs, choruses, sketches, and dances. 



IN THE COURTS. 



THE binlcatchcrs have, as usual, furnished the 

 majority of cases heard in the courts under the 

 Wild Birds Protection Acts during the past three 

 months. The following are typical cases. 



Si'rrf.y.— At Croydon, James Bull, of Mitcham. 

 was fined 12s. 9d. and his tackle confiscated lor 

 bird-catching on Christmas Day. In his possession 

 were a linnet and a redpoll, birds which are pro- 

 tected all the year round in Surrey.— James Drake, 



of Bermondsey, was fined 17s. 6d. at the same 

 court for bird-catching on Sunday, December 31st, 

 at Mitcham, and for cruelty to decoy birds, which 

 were, as usual, braced with string and worked by 

 a cord. There was no order as to the birds and 

 nets in this case. 



Metropolitan Police District. — Two 

 Southall men were convicted at Brentford on 

 December 21st of taking goldfinches and linnets. 

 They were fined 10s. each ; the birds to be 

 liberated and the nets destroyed. — A Hammer- 

 smith birdcatcher was fined £1 and his nets 

 confiscated, at Chiswick, on December 20th, for 

 cruelty to decoys, linnets, and chaffinch. He 

 complained loudly of being prevented from getting 

 "an honest loaf of bread." — A case of a different 

 kind was heard at the South-Western District 

 Court, when Charles Matthews, of Battersea, got 

 off with a fine of 2s. 6d for catapulting, and after- 

 wards wringing the neck of a wild duck on 

 Wandsworth Common lake. He left the bird in 

 a dying state in a furze bush, but the magistrate 

 described the matter as " after all only pursuit of 

 game." [County magistrates regard pursuit of 

 game in a somewhat different spirit.] 



Somerset. — A Bristol employe of the Great 

 Western Railway Company has been fined ,£5 and 

 costs by the Wells county magistrates for taking 

 twentv-four "oldfinches. 



NEW PICTURE POSTCARDS. 

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NEW LEAFLET. 

 In Preparation. 

 Bird-Catching and Bird-Caging. P>y John Carey. 

 Illustrated. 



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