28 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



satisfactorily with the keeper, the eggs-dealer, and 

 the bird-catcher. 



" The professional egg-dealer is one whose worst 

 excesses result from the existence of a class of 

 mercenary private egg-collectors, who collect 

 bought eggs much as others do stamps or picture 

 postcards. To the true ornithologist this is con- 

 temptible and mischievous. The remedy might be 

 to make the sale of all wild birds' eggs from one 

 private person to another actually illegal. This 

 would leave it open for public institutions to buy 

 eggs ; and while, doubtless, it would not wholly 

 extinguish the private egg traffic, it would greatly 

 reduce its volume by forcing it to be clandestine. 

 The other great malefactor is the bird-catcher. 

 Fortunately he cannot catch much now in the breed- 

 ing-season, but his activity outside it is immense, 

 and most tragic. Every Saturday night in 

 Manchester alone an army of little birds — chiefly 

 Linnets, Larks, and Greenfinches — is sold at about 

 sixpence apiece. The sequel is horrible to think 

 of; the little captives are carried off to the slums, 

 where they die in a week or two, to be replaced by 

 others. There are slum families which habitually 

 keep in relays three or four birds in the house. 

 There is, perhaps, no conscious cruelty, but the 

 conditions are murderous for wild creatures." 



COUNTY BOROUGHS AND BIRD 

 SANCTUARIES. 



The opportunity given by the Wild Birds Protec- 

 tion Acts for any County or Borough Council to 

 establish protected areas or sanctuaries wherein 

 the taking of all wild birds or eggs shall be illegal, 

 has not been so largely utilised as it might be. 

 There are Bird Sanctuaries (as distinct from areas 

 for egg protection) under the Protection Orders of 

 only six English counties and two County boroughs, 

 namely : Abingdon Common and lands adjoining 

 the Ock, in Berkshire ; the Hundred of Wirral, in 

 Cheshire ; the rivers Dee and Mersey, in Cheshire 

 and Lancashire ; the rivers Ouse and Nene and 

 their banks and tributaries, in Huntingdon ; six- 

 and-a-half miles of beach and foreshores, in 

 Somerset; the beach at Bridlington and Flam- 

 borough, in Yorkshire ; the river Mersey, in Liver- 

 pool and Warrington. 



In addition to these, however, there are numerous 

 common-lands, public parks, and other open spaces 

 throughout the country where all interference with 

 birds and their nests and eggs is strictly pro- 

 hibited. By the courtesy of the Mayors and Town 

 Clerks of the County Boroughs of England and 

 Wales, the Royal Society for the Protection of 

 Birds has received copies of the by-laws and 

 regulations governing such public lands as are 



under Borough Council control ; and it would be 

 of much value to the Society if similarly by-laws 

 relating to commons and parks generally were 

 kindly forwarded to the Hon. Secretary by the 

 governing bodies. 



Of the sixty-seven County Boroughs, Canter- 

 bury, Chester, Derby, Devonport, Northampton, 

 Sunderland, Great Yarmouth, and York possess 

 no Bird Sanctuaries ; they have no Bird Pro- 

 tection Order, and there are no by-laws on the 

 subject in connection with any of their public 

 parks ; York indeed has no park. Barrow-in- 

 Furness, Burton-on-Trent, Nottingham, South 

 Shields, and West Bromwich depend upon their 

 Protection Orders in general and have no special 

 enactments to preserve the birds of open spaces. 

 In Liverpool new regulations are being prepared. 

 At Coventry the by-laws are confined to the pro- 

 tection of water-fowl. 



In the parks and pleasure-grounds of the follow- 

 ing Boroughs the taking or killing of wild birds, 

 the disturbing or destroying of their nests, and the 

 use of nets, etc., is wholly interdicted :— 



Bath, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Blackburn, 

 Bolton, Bootle, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, 

 Bristol, Burnley, Bury, Cardiff, Croydon, Exeter, 

 Gateshead, Gloucester, Halifax, Hanley, Hastings, 

 Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, 

 * Middlesbrough, Newcastle - on - Tyne, Newport 

 (Mon.), Norwich, *01dham, *Plymouth, Preston, 

 Rochdale, Salford, St. Helens, Sheffield, South- 

 ampton, Swansea, Walsall, Warrington, Wolver- 

 hampton, Worcester. 



This means that over a hundred and fifty 

 pleasure grounds situated within the largest towns 

 in the kingdom are complete Sanctuaries for Wild 

 Birds : and if the list includes some small recrea- 

 tion-grounds, where few birds are likely to occur, 

 it also comprehends fine stretches of open land, 

 such as the Addington Hills and Crohamhurst at 

 Croydon, Clifton and Durdham Downs, Woodhouse 

 Moor, and Southampton Common. 



Two letters received on the subject are particu- 

 larly pleasant to read. 



The Town Clerk of Walsall writes : 



" Special instructions are given to the gardeners 

 of the Public Parks to protect the birds, and close 

 watch is kept upon them during the nesting 

 season, the result being that, although our central 

 Park is within a quarter of a mile of the very 

 centre of a large manufacturing town, it is noted 

 for its singing birds. The Parks Committee make 

 a point of prosecuting any person who interferes 

 with a nest." 



* In towns marked * there is no reference to nests and eggs. 



