BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



55 



other modern devices, to protect his field or garden 

 from the ravages of the numerous insect and grub 

 pests with which they are infested.'' 



NOTES. 



An Invention of the Enemy. 



A curious story has been set afloat by some 

 stupid or malicious busybody, that the Duchess of 

 Portland had been seen wearing Owls' feathers in 

 her hat. No one who is acquainted with the 

 Duchess, or who is aware of the earnest support 

 she has given to the Royal Society for the Pro- 

 tection of Birds, needs to be told that the rumour 

 is utterly false ; but it may be well to give it an 

 absolute contradiction. Her Grace wears Ostrich 

 feathers only. 



Hands across the Sea. 



The National Association of Audubon Societies 

 of the United States have, through their President. 

 Mr. W. Dutcher, very kindly presented a large 

 number of copies of their leaflet " The Aigrette 

 loses Caste" (containing the letters on the subject 

 from Queen Alexandra and President Roosevelt) for 

 inclusion in the annual report of their British fellow- 

 workers. The report will be gladly sent to any 

 reader of Bird Notes and News who does not 

 already receive it. 



Collecting by Schoolchildren. 



The January number of The Federal Magazine, 

 the organ of the League of the Empire, contains a 

 proposition by Colonel Plunkett for the general 

 and systematic collection by British schoolchildren 

 of butterflies, beetles, wildflowers, and other 

 examples of the fauna and flora of their neighbour- 

 hoods for constant exchange with schoolchildren 

 in the Colonies. Everyone with a knowledge of 

 children and their collections will guess what this 

 would mean. In answer to enquiries from the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 Colonel Plunkett states that he does not propose 

 to include birds in these collections and that he 

 would consider birds' eggs unsuitable for the 

 purpose. This should be very plainly announced 

 if the whole scheme goes any further ; but it is to 

 be hoped that the many members of the League 

 interested in the preservation of our fauna and 

 flora will have something to say (and will say it in 

 emphatic language) on the subject of child- 

 collections of butterflies and wildflowers. 



"Arbor Day." 



The importance of the re-afforestation move- 

 ment, and the consequent value of ' ; Arbor Day," 

 has been emphasised by many writers and speakers 

 of late. In opening the forestry class at Edin- 

 burgh University recently, Dr. Borthwick men- 

 tioned that the demand for timber was increasing,, 

 while the native supply was decreasing ; that 

 twenty-one million of acres of land were lying 

 waste in the United Kingdom, while over 

 ^25,000,000 worth of timber was imported annually, 

 which we might have grown for ourselves. This 

 country, he believed, was the most poorly wooded 

 in Europe. Bird and Tree (Arbor) Day may seem 

 a trivial thing to set against figures such as these ; 

 but when it is considered that its general adoption 

 would imply the intelligent study by thousands of 

 children of the growth, value, and uses of specific 

 trees, in addition to the object-lesson of the formal 

 tree-planting, its meaning becomes significant. 



Christmas Decorations. 



The birds are now being grudged not only a 

 share of our edible berries but also those which 

 it was once imagined a kindly Providence intended 

 for their sustenance. " So rapacious are the 

 Thrush and Blackbird," writes one amateur gar- 

 dener in a provincial paper, '"'that we never expect 

 the brilliant scarlet berries of the rowan and the 

 pyracanthus to hang more than a few brief days. 



. . . Even the holly does not escape, and it has 

 been found necessary to cut our Christmas stock 

 long before it is needed, lest none worth taking 

 should be left." Another writer observes that 

 luckily the Christmas decorations had been secured 

 before the snowstorms came : " had they not few 

 berries would have been left on the holly boughs," 

 for the berried-trees left were stripped, and even 

 then many birds died of starvation. 



How they do it in Germany. 



English bird-lovers are rapidly adopting the 

 German plan of providing nesting-boxes for wild 

 birds, and it may be hoped that these pretty bird- 

 homes will supersede the cramped and unpleasing 

 little aviaries which form an unattractive feature of 

 some of the County Council parks. In time it may 

 even be possible to see in England such a sight as 

 that described by Mr. G. N. Barnes, M.P., in the 

 Amalgamated Engineers' Journal, for August, 

 1899. The extract is kindly sent to Bird Notes 

 and News by Mr. McCormick Goodhart. In an 



