54 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



and some of their conclusions are worthy of note. 

 Mr. G. Abbey, writing in the Journal of Horticul- 

 ture (December 27th, 1906), after a preliminary 

 skirmish against the "sentimentalists," observes 

 that shooting is too expensive and troublesome, 

 but that limewash is easily made, very simple, and 

 if properly mixed and applied will not wash off 

 readily in rain : 



" Neither Bullfinches or Sparrows will touch 

 buds so treated, but the lime will kill moths and 

 overgrowths and certainly transfix any hibernating 

 pests reached. . . . Thus three 'birds' will be 

 killed with one 'stone' — one, the birds prevented 

 from destroying the blossom buds, another by free- 

 ing the trees or bushes from overgrowths of 

 lichens and moths and hibernating pests, and yet 

 a third by dressing the ground with lime." 



Mr. W. E. Bear, in a paper in the Jotirnal of 

 the Board of Agriculture (February, 1907), also 

 refers to the value of washes. A gooseberry 

 plantation was, he states, seriously damaged by 

 Sparrows. 



"The buds had been sprayed with a protective 

 mixture, which was effective until persistent rain 

 washed it off. Then, in two or three days, dining 

 which the inspection of the plantation was neg- 

 lected, the damage was done. A second spraying 

 was then carried out, which checked, if it did not 

 absolutely prevent, further devastation." 



Mr. Bear thinks that fruit-growers would be 

 unanimous in desiring to withdraw protection from 

 the Sparrow, Bullfinch, and Blackbird. The Song- 

 Thrush is also regarded as far too numerous, but 

 " a great eater of snails and a destroyer of insects 

 and grubs of various kinds throughout the greater 

 part of the year, and Starlings also need to be 

 thinned, distressful though it is to kill either, and 

 particularly the Starling, a very valuable bird when 

 fruit is not ripe." Unfortunately no method is yet 

 invented for having your birds alternately dead 

 and alive, according to the condition of the crops. 

 The Tits 



"do some damage by, pecking holes in apples and 

 pears, but experience last season showed the ad- 

 vantage of growing clumps of sunflowers in various 

 parts of fruit plantations. These birds and pro- 

 bably many others are so fond of sunflower seed 

 that they partially neglect fruit in its favour. They 

 are valuable in orchards and gardens as devourers 

 of various injurious insects, larvae and eggs.'' 



It is, of course, admitted that none of these birds 

 is protected from the farmer or fruit-grower at any 

 time of the year by the Bird Protection Acts, but 

 most growers, it is remarked, are unaware of their 

 rights. This is surely a remarkable admission : 

 that growers do not take the trouble to find out the 

 state of the law 'against which they constantly 



grumble on a- point that is said seriously to affect 

 them. Mr. Bear adds : 



" Having obtained a dozen local Orders as 

 samples, without any selection, I find that the 

 Bullfinch is protected in two during the entire year, 

 while the Thrush, Chaffinch, and Stock Dove, are 

 scheduled in others." 



Some genius must, one would say, have presided 

 over that random selection, for the Bullfinch is 

 scheduled in only two counties in England, and in but 

 one of these (Huntingdon) for the whole year ; the 

 Thrush in only three ; the Chaffinch in three, two 

 of which are London and Middlesex ; and the 

 Stock Dove in one. Still more unfortunate is the 

 quotation from a lecture by Mr. C. Hooper, "that 

 even in parts of Kent, a great fruit county, all wild 

 birds' eggs are protected." If Mr. Bear and Mr. 

 Hooper had troubled to enquire into the facts they 

 would have found that these "parts of Kent" are 

 defined coast and marsh areas, which are the 

 breeding-grounds, not of Bullfinches and Black- 

 birds, but of certain Plover and other rare species ; 

 they are fairly well-known to the Royal Society for 

 the Protection of Birds, which employs watchers 

 there to protect the nesting birds. 



The Indian Agriculturist (Calcutta) is asking 

 for investigations " conducted by the Local Govern- 

 ments, with the co-operation of amateur natura- 

 lists and the ryots generally, with a view to collecting 

 reliable data regarding the feeding and other habits 

 of various birds, in order to decide to what extent 

 they are friends or enemies of agriculture." It 

 fears that the enthusiasm stirred up three or four 

 years ago "with the laudable object of checking 

 the reckless destruction of birds " has waned, but 

 that the slaughter goes on ; " and the necessity is 

 as great as ever for a workable law to deal with 

 an evil that is far more injurious to agriculture 

 (on which 80 per cent, of the people of India are 

 directly or indirectly dependent) than most people 

 imagine." 



"Time was when, in Assam, insectivorous birds 

 were considered sacred by the natives, when no 

 Burman would commit the crime of taking the life 

 of a bird, and when, in most parts of India, the 

 destruction of any animal life, and bird life in 

 particular, was denounced by the general com- 

 munity as an unpardonable enormity. But all that 

 is changed now. Notwithstanding, the Indian 

 ryot can scarcely be held ignorant of the fact that 

 many species of birds, which he now destroys or 

 permits to be destroyed, are among his best friends, 

 that would do more than scientific spraying, arti- 

 ficial manuring, imported predatory insects and 



