BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



21 



THE CITY BEAUTIFUL. 



The movement which has sprung up in Lancashire 

 and elsewhere to arrest the growing " uglification " 

 of England, and to make centres of industry as 

 clean and beautiful as may be, is essentially 

 connected with the movement for the better 

 preservation of our wild birds. The town dweller 

 who remains unmoved while speculative builders 

 cut to pieces all that remains of beauty round about 

 his town, and cover the ground with the most 

 undesirable dwellings that sanitary authorities will 

 pass ; and who has nothing to say while factories 

 and generating-stations poison the air with smoke 

 and sulphurous vapour, and " works " pollute the 

 river with refuse ; is the same man who sees no 

 sense in Bird Protection, laughs at the notion of 

 protective laws, and rather thinks there are too 

 many birds in the world so long as a sparrow is 

 left to twitter on his window-sill. 



Various bodies, such as the Commons Preserva- 

 tion Society, the National Trust, the Society for 

 Checking the Abuses of Advertising, and so on, 

 have been for years endeavouring to save beauty- 

 spots and open spaces for the benefit of the nation. 

 " Beautiful Oldham ' : was, we believe, the pioneer 

 of local associations having definite aims and rules 

 for the salvation of their own neighbourhoods 

 and the betterment of urban England. Oldham's 

 example has been followed by other towns ; and 

 on the time of publication of this number of Bird 

 Notes and News a " National Conference for the 

 Cult of the Beautiful in Industrial Centres" is 

 being held at Manchester (June 26th) for the 

 discussion of the following subjects : 



1. How to interest children in the cult of the 



Beautiful. 



2. How Town - dwellers may make their 



homes, small garden-plots, and back- 

 yards beautiful. 



3. What Municipalities may do to give the 



towns a more country aspect. 



4. How our towns may be made brighter 



and cleaner by the abatement of smoke, 



dust, etc. 

 The objects of such a Conference will com- 

 mend themselves to every right-minded citizen. 

 Bournville and Port Sunlight have led the way as 

 model suburbs ; First Garden City may be trusted 

 to show what can be done on a new and beautiful 

 site. Towns like Oldham and Warrington, or 

 Northampton or Walsall, have a more difficult 

 business in hand. Two points will suggest them- 

 selves to bird protectors. 



1. One of the first things a municipality may do 

 is to encourage wild bird-life. Nothing is of so 



much delight to the ordinary town-dweller as to 

 see free wild life in any public park or garden, and 

 to hear the calls and songs of birds. Cages and 

 small aviaries are worse than useless except for 

 the showing a few fine-plumaged species, such as 

 the golden pheasant. A pond with an island that 

 affords plenty of cover, and with a good growth of 

 reeds, rushes, etc., may be the home not only of 

 the ordinary varieties of duck, but also of the more 

 fascinating coot, or moorhen, or dabchick. Ever- 

 greens and underwood, as wild and untrimmed as 

 may be, will be nesting-places for small birds that 

 will do more than exotics and carpet-bedding can 

 effect to bring the country into the town. A few 

 nesting-boxes and bird-shelters may tempt birds 

 who have never before looked upon the town-park 

 as a homeland. A supply of food in hard weather 

 will do much to keep them. It must, of course, be 

 made clear that no bird-nesting, bird-catching, or 

 catapulting will be tolerated. If the town is a 

 county borough, it should obtain a good Bird Pro- 

 tection Order, prohibiting (as Norwich has just 

 prohibited) all bird-nesting within the borough 

 bounds, and giving such protection as will keep 

 the bird-catcher outside the gates. It is singular 

 how many boroughs (even Beautiful Oldham itself) 

 are at present without any bird protection law save 

 the Act of 1880. If the town is included in the 

 county area, it may ask the county for certain 

 safeguards, such as Sunday protection, and take 

 care that bird preservation is included in the bye- 

 laws. 



2. In order to interest the children, Oldham has 

 a junior society with an attractive membership-card 

 and this pledge : 



" I promise to do all in my power to protect wild 

 birds and plants and flowers, and to influence 

 others to do the same. 



" I promise (l) Not to destroy wild birds' ne>ts, 

 nor take their eggs, nor pull up plants by the roots, 

 nor injure the trees, plants, flowers, or animals in 

 Oldham and neighbourhood ; (2) To do my best 

 to sow seeds, or plant flowers or trees, in or around 

 Oldham at least once every year ; (3) To do all I 

 can to make my home, school, and town beautiful." 



School instruction may further and amplify such 

 rules as these ; and, above all, Bird and Tree 

 (Arbor) Day seems especially designed to advance 

 the whole scheme. Let the children learn in 

 school about birds and trees and flowers (not, 

 emphatically not, with the help or hindrance of 

 stuffed specimens, anatomical fragments, and cage- 

 birds). Let them learn it out of school, too. Few 

 towns but have some fields or roadsides in reach 

 where wild flowers grow ; and a wild-flower garden 



