Bird Notes and News 



37 



the new Central Advisory Committee on the 



Wild Birds Protection Acts ; but the Home 



Office have had the good fortune to secure 



Viscount Grey of Falloden to take his place. 



The first meetings of English and Scottish 



Committees are being arranged for an early 



date in May. 



* * * 



" The Llanddwyn Grace Darling " is the name 

 which Welsh newspapers have now given 

 to the one woman Watcher acting for the 

 R.S.P.B., in consequence of her aid to the 

 Rhoscolyn Lifeboat crew on December 3rd last, 

 when, exhausted after terrible experiences at 

 sea, they made for Llanddwyn. The boat went 

 out in a tremendous sea, with all the pluck and 

 daring that distinguish the British Lifeboat- 

 man, to the help of a steamer struggling against 

 the hurricane in Carnarvon Bay. The task was 

 beyond their strength, and five men were 

 drowned, the survivors being rescued by the 

 people of the lighthouse settlement — the three 

 pilots (all Watchers) and their families — and 

 cared for in their homes. Mrs. Jones, who is 

 the widow of the former Chief Pilot, has 

 received a letter from the Royal National Life- 

 boat Institution, who writes : 



" The District Inspector of Lifeboats has written to 

 the Committee in terms of warm praise of your services 

 to the Institution in berthing the Lifeboat and taking 

 charge of her for the five days during which she lay at 

 Llanddwyn, and in helping him and Captain Davies to 

 take her to the tug on December 8th. For these 

 services, and in particular for your kindness in caring 

 for the crew of the Lifeboat, the Committee of 

 Management desire me to express to you their very 

 grateful thanks." 



* * * 



Complaints as to illegal catching of birds in 



the country, re-stocking of bird-shops in towns, 



and wanton destruction at the hands of children 



and equally ignorant adults of birds, their nests, 



eggs, and young, come in increasing numbers 



to the R.S.P.B. No doubt the increase is 



largely due to a growing feeling of humanity, 



growing knowledge of the value of bird-life, and 



growing indignation against the senseless 



crushing out of life and song and beauty on the 



part of the general public. But a great part 



of the lawbreaking and destruction complained 



of is back-wash from the war, when panic found 



one outlet in a wild cry against any and every 



creature that might touch seed or fruit which 



man might conceivably eat, no matter how 



many tons of human food those same creatures 



had saved from the true vermin. 

 * * * 



Every member of the Society and every 

 lover of nature is earnestly asked to constitute 



himself or herself a bird-warden this summer 

 and to help in defending the " winged wardens 

 of our farms." This can best be done by 

 acquiring definite information on the food of 

 birds, by becoming versed in the law of close- 

 time and in local Orders on bird protection ; by 

 encouraging and assisting the Police with 

 accurate information and evidence in cases 

 of breaches of Acts and Orders ; and by 

 enlisting the sympathy of teachers (who should 

 be asked to adopt the Bird and Tree Scheme), 

 and Scoutmasters and Girl Guide leaders. 

 " Birds, Insects and Crops," the sixpenny 

 "A B C of Common Birds," and packets of 

 " Bird- Ally " postcards are useful for pro- 

 paganda. 



* * * 



While the Times has been justly decrying, 

 amid general sympathy, the brutalities of 

 pigeon-shooting at Monte Carlo, a paragraph 

 also appears in its columns stating that a 

 pigeon-shooting match had taken place for the 

 benefit of a certain hospital in Shropshire, 

 when " 840 birds were released and about 500 

 were killed." How many got away wounded 

 is not mentioned. At Chatham, on March 

 30th, according to the newspapers, a " grand 

 opening meeting " for the same " sport " took 

 place, for which 400 pigeons (Wood-Pigeons 

 with cut tails) were provided and were released 

 from collapsing boxes to meet the guns, a 

 50-bird match for £200 being part of the pro- 

 gramme, and 5s. being charged for admission 

 to the spectacle. So far as humanity is con- 

 cerned the Chatham Gun Club, and the pot- 

 house-shoots at Blackbirds and Starlings still 

 existent and legal in England, are probably 

 below the level of Monte Carlo. With these 

 things at one end of the social scale, and Lark- 

 eating and " Osprey "-wearing at the other end, 

 and with a "charity" deriving funds from 

 trap-shooting, English people are badly handi- 

 capped as preachers. 



The flight of birds in relation to the problems 

 of aviation has occupied much attention of 

 late. The Aeroplane, in particular, has pub- 

 lished (January 12th, 19th, 26th, 1921) articles 

 by Captain H. S. Wildeblood, M.Inst.C.E., and 

 Captain W. H. Sayers, together with a lively 

 correspondence between the former and the 

 Editor of the journal, which will have interested 

 students of bird-flight as well as those ardent 

 aeronauts whose minds are centred on the 

 Handley-Page wing. Capt. Wildeblood, from 

 a study of Indian birds, develops theories which 



