BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



15 



Council Orders. With regard to the Queen's 

 letter, it was further reported that copies of the 

 letter had been sent to the leading millinery firms 

 in London. 



The appointment of the following Hon. Local 

 Secretaries was confirmed : Bournville, Miss Isabel 

 Cadbury ; Croydon, Miss A. C. Shipton ; East 

 Hants, Rev. Canon Vaughan ; Hythe, Mr. G. W. 

 Chitty ; Lewisham, Miss Mary Major ; Rutland, 

 Miss Newton. The resignations were received 

 with regret of Mrs. Webb-Bowen for Haverford- 

 west, and Miss Maud Tryon for Rutland. Twelve 

 new Fellows were elected, viz. : the Ranee of 

 Sarawak, Lady Stepney, Viscount Esher, Lord 

 Montagu of Beaulieu, Mr. Alfred Beeching, Miss 

 E. Boodle, Mrs. Cutler, Rev. H. S. Gladstone, Mr. 

 Edward Jones, Mr. W. Nicol, Mrs. Riverstone, 

 Mrs. W. E. Scott. Mr. Richard Kearton was 

 elected a Life Fellow ; and forty-two Members 

 were elected. The accounts for the quarter were 

 submitted and passed. 



The Council considered the proposal to co- 

 operate with the Central Chamber of Agriculture 

 in its desire for an official enquiry into the 

 economic utility of birds, which was raised at the 

 Annual Meeting ; and it was decided that a 

 communication should be sent to the Board of 

 Agriculture, expressing the Society's willingness to 

 assist in any such enquiry. The question of bird- 

 protection at the Cornish breeding-station, the 

 Brissons, and on other parts of the Cornish coast, 

 was considered ; and other business transacted. 



Committee meetings were held on May 18th and 

 June 16th. 



OBITUARY. 



The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds 

 whose roll of Vice-Presidents and Council had 

 heretofore been so little disturbed by death, has 

 this year lost three Vice-Presidents in quick 

 succession, the death of Lady Grey in January 

 being followed by that of Canon Tristram in March, 

 and of Mrs. Brightwen in May. The two last- 

 named were among the immediate supporters 

 of the Society in its formation, and their names 

 appear on the earliest list of Vice-Presidents in 

 1893. Canon Tristram was one of the distinguished 

 band of ornithologists — including Lord Lilford, 

 Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, Professor Newton, Dr. Sclater 

 and Mr. W. H. Hudson — whose sympathy encour- 

 aged the first efforts of what was then a women's 

 society. A recognised authority, on the birds of 

 Palestine in particular, his name was a pillar of 



strength to the young Society, and only a few weeks 

 before his death his continued interest was shown 

 in a correspondence respecting the protection of 

 certain birds in Durham county. Canon Tristram, 

 who was connected with Durham nearly all his life, 

 was eighty-four years of age. 



The popularity of Mrs. Brightwen's books has 

 made her name known to most of the younger 

 generation. Born in 1830, she did not take to 

 authorship until she was sixty, when she published 

 a pleasant account of birds and beasts of her garden 

 and park, under the title of "Wild Nature won by 

 Kindness." She had learned to observe wild lite 

 in her early days at Streatham, and in later life a 

 more intimate study of nature was the main interest 

 of the twenty years during which she lived at 

 Great Stanmore. 



WATCHERS AND WATCHING. 



The watching and watchers'* branch of the Society's 

 work becomes increasingly urgent. It consists not 

 only in employing and superintending watchers, 

 but also in collecting information and in co-opera- 

 ting with local associations for the preservation of 

 the rarer birds of Britain — birds which can be 

 retained as breeding species only by the united 

 action of watchers and of county authorities. 



County authorities obviously : because it is 

 essential at the outset to ask County Councils to 

 obtain fully protective Orders, for the scheduling 

 of species not scheduled by the Act, for the pro- 

 tection of eggs, and in many cases for the further 

 protection of the bird throughout the autumn and 

 winter months. [Scheduling a species might be 

 supposed unnecessary where the owner or tenant 

 of the land where it breeds is not likely to interfere 

 with it ; but the effect is not only to protect the 

 bird against every person absolutely, but also 

 to increase the fine for taking or killing.] The 

 interest and help of police, coastguardsmen, owners 

 of property, etc., have also to be enlisted wherever 

 possible ; and chief constables and other gentlemen 

 may generally be depended on for courteous and 

 willing assistance. Where a conviction is obtained 

 the main point is to secure the forfeiture of the 

 bird or egg taken ; the value of this is commonly 

 a good deal more than the amount of the highest 

 possible fine. 



The business of the watcher, however, is entirely 

 distinct from that of the police. There are 

 occasions where breaches of the law are known to 

 occur, or where information comes to the Society 

 that an attempt is to be made to harry a nest, 



