BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



35 



of birds, and "objects'' in glass bowls may afford 

 material for school natural history lessons ; they 

 are not "country in town"; and as for withered 

 birds-nests and museum specimens of "migrants" 

 (including Thrush, Tit, and Robin) it is hard to con- 

 ceive what purpose they could be supposed to serve. 

 Perhaps it was intended as an apology to the 

 humanitarians that one collection of nests were 

 stated to have been taken at the end of the 

 summer, and afterwards filled with eggs obtained 

 from a dealer ! Rus in urbe is not to be brought 

 about by thefts from the country, but by the 

 planting of trees, shrubs, and flowers, and by the 

 provision of open spaces, parks, and gardens, laid 

 out as naturally as may be, with green hiding- 

 places where shy birds may nest in peace, and 

 with pools and ponds where moorhens may dive 

 and caddis-worms and water-beetles find their 

 natural homes. 



TREES IN LONDON. 



Among the excellent lectures given in the Art 

 Gallery and at Toynbee Hall in connexion with 

 the Country in Town Exhibition was a useful one 

 on "Tree-planting in London," which unfor- 

 tunately had a very meagre audience. The 

 lecturer, Dr. Henry, made it clear that Arbor Day 

 will find no obstacles to success in London from a 

 lack either of species to be found within the radius 

 at present or of those which might advantageously 

 be planted in streets, gardens, open spaces, and 

 school-yards. Dr. Henry would have nothing to 

 say to the assumption that plane-trees only will 

 grow in the smoke of towns. The plane, it is true, 

 survives ill-treatment remarkably well ; and con- 

 sidering the soil in which they are planted, the lack 

 of water under which they habitually suffer, and the 

 barbarous lopping to which they are condemned at 

 the hands of the ignorant and stupid, London trees 

 are often woefully ill-treated. But these things need 

 not be. Dr. Henry counselled the planting of 

 strips of grass six or seven feet wide by the street- 

 side, to receive moisture for the trees, in place of 

 the present useless gratings ; the careful selection 

 of species and varieties of the world's trees suit- 

 able for town life and for large or small spaces ; 

 the giving of more attention in all the parks to the 

 planting of trees and shrubs in conditions and 

 groupings as nearly a transcript of Nature as pos- 

 sible, and the spending of less money upon gaudy 

 tropical flowers — the most expensive of all garden- 

 ing fads. St. James's, he remarked incidentally, 



was the only pleasing London park. Dr. Henry 

 further urged that the aridity of school playgrounds 

 be relieved by a tree or two ; that buildings and 

 walls be covered with Virginia creeper and other 

 climbers (Toynbee Hall itself furnishing an admir- 

 able example of this) ; that railway companies be 

 compelled to hide the unsightliness of their ap- 

 proaches, which discourage every visitor to the 

 Metropolis, with lines of such trees as Lombard) 

 poplars ; and that the Aucuba jaftonica be swept 

 off the face of London. 



COUNTY COUNCIL ORDER, 



Galway. Aug. 21, 1906. E. Protects the eggs 

 of the following species for five years from 

 March 1, 1907 : — Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, 

 Woodcock, Sea Eagle, Red-Necked Phalarope, 

 Chough, Hen Harrier, Red-Throated Diver, Tern, 

 Raven, Fork-Tailed Petrel, Mallard, Teal, Black- 

 Headed Gull, Mute Swan, Kingfisher. 



PROTECTION OF BIRDS IN 

 SWEDEN. 



According to the new law for the protection of 

 small birds in Sweden, which came into force on 

 March 1st this year, it is forbidden from that date 

 until September 15th to capture or kill the following : 

 Sparrowhawks, Owls, Woodpeckers, Rooks, 

 Creepers, Nuthatches, Swifts, Nightjars, Nightin- 

 gales, Bluethroats, Redstarts, Redbreasts, Chats, 

 Hedge-Sparrows, Warblers, Willow Wrens, Chiff- 

 chaffs, Golden-Crested and common Wrens, all 

 kinds of Tits, Flycatchers, Swallows and Wagtails, 

 Pipits, Starlings, and Siskins, as also both white and 

 black Storks. It is likewise forbidden at anytime 

 of the year to take or disturb the eggs or nests of 

 any of these birds, or to offer for sale, buy, or 

 receive such eggs or nests. 



IN THE COURTS. 



The [ngleborough Falcons— At Ingleton 

 Petty Sessions, on August Sth, Richard Ormrod, 

 chairman of the Ingleton Parish Council, was 

 charged with attempting to shoot a pair of Pere- 

 grine Falcons. The history of the case is instruc- 

 tive. A paragraph appeared in a local paper 

 giving an account (if the manner in which Mr. 

 Ormrod and a farmer named Sutton had on May 

 1 5 tH sought out a Peregrine's nest on the side of 

 [ngleborough, shot at the birds but missed, and 



