Bird Notes and News 



53 



Notes 



The expeditions to Mount Everest and to 

 Spitzbergen are expected to add interesting 

 things to our knowledge of bird life. Colonel 

 Howard-Bury, leader of the former, tells of the 

 fearlessness of man shown by birds at a height 

 of 18,000 feet. They perched upon the 

 travellers' shoulders and ate from their hands. 

 This is, of course, but confirmation of the part- 

 proved theory that until birds learn how 

 inimical and dangerous a monster is man they 

 regard him only with friendly curiosity. The 

 Rev. F. R. Jourdain, leader of the Spitzbergen 

 expedition, writes in the Times of the dangers 

 to bird life from the sealing sloops, now that 

 oil-engines enable these to work the coast. 



" One sloop which we met with off Prince Charles 

 Foreland had on board at the end of June no fewer 

 than 15,000 eggs of Eider Duck, and large numbers 

 of eggs were being collected daily, as well as down. 

 The number of birds actually killed is not large, but 

 the steady and continuous drain on the reproductive 

 energies of the birds must tell in the long run. . . . 

 Everywhere the state of things was the same ; every 

 big Eider colony had been systematically raided at 

 regular intervals for eggs and down. . . . With 

 the Brent Geese the state of things was even worse." 



In a paper reprinted from the Emu (organ 

 of the A.O.U.), Mr. Charles Barrett gives a 

 delightful picture of " Wilson's Promontory 

 (Victoria) and its Wild Life." This National 

 Sanctuary of Australia, about 101,000 acres in 

 extent, is a mountainous region, " with beauti- 

 ful fern-gullies, sylvan creeks, and little rivers, 

 wide, curved beaches, gigantic headlands, high 

 sand-dunes, and stretches of open heathy 

 country that are splendid with flowers in spring 

 and summer." So varied a country is naturally 

 strong in wild fauna and flora, and a month is 

 needed, Mr. Barrett remarks, to visit all the 

 spots worth seeing. Two visits have enabled 

 him to list about 60 species of birds, and nearly 

 double that number have been recorded. 

 Among them is the L}T:ebird, for which per- 

 secuted species it may probably become the 

 last refuge, since it has small chance elsewhere 

 against the plume-hunter, the egg-collector and 



the fox. 



* * * 



Another and extremely interesting record of 

 national work of this kind is presented by two 

 brochures issued by the Ministry of the Interior 

 of the Empire of Japan, the first a statement of 

 the " Loi sur la Protection Monuments naturels 



et historiques " ; the other a list of the 

 monuments, ruins, sites, and places, and of the 

 animal life, which it is desired to protect. 

 Among the last-named are animals peculiar to 

 Japan, animals in danger of exterminaiion 

 (including the Japanese Ibis, Japanese Egret, 

 the Siberian Bustard, and the Spoonbill), 

 and characteristic animals of plains, mountains, 

 rivers, islands, marshes, etc. Plants and 

 minerals are also included. It is evident, as 

 the Secretary of the Commission writes, that 

 Japan is seriously occupied with the protection 

 of Nature. More seriously than England is. 



As an impression appeared to be abroad that 

 the Firearms Act of 1920 had, by its definition 

 clause, rendered a licence for air-guns no 

 longer necessary, and as certain manufacturers 

 were advertising this to be the case, the 

 R.S.P.B. made inquiries of the Home Ofiice, 

 and has been informed by the Home Secretary 

 that the using or carrying of an air-gun without 

 a gun-licence is illegal. The requirements of 

 the Gun Licence Act of 1870 are not affected 

 by the Firearms Act. 



" F. C. G." writes a note in the Glasgow Herald 

 the irony of which, it may be hoped, will be 

 appreciated by readers north of the Tweed. 



" It is heartening to read your recent correspondent's 

 words on behalf of our ' feathered friends.' They 

 come to us m these midgy days to help to make life 

 tolerable — to help to keep in check the myriads of 

 insects that play havoc with our crops of fruit and 

 grain — and man, enlightened man, organises so-called 

 sparrow clubs, forgetting that their members cannot 

 distinguish between a heron and a sparrow, and then 

 he buys a penny gardening paper to discover a proper 

 spray for his fruit trees withal. Nay, more, if a rare 

 visitant should enter these islands he is hospitably shot 

 by the so-called sportsman and straightway stuffed. 

 But things are mending. The Royal Society for the 

 Protection of Birds has taken these, our friends, under 

 its wing, and we are filled with hope. Our Second 

 City of the Empire is doing its duty too, for does it 

 not provide thirteen subscribers to the said Society ?" 



Perhaps no "Winter Guest" gives more 

 charm to grey days than the Redwing or 

 " Norwegian Nightingale," strikingly portrayed 

 on the Society's Greeting Cai'd for 1921-1922 

 by Mr. Gronvold. As it is also entirely helpful 

 to the agriculturist, welcome and protection 

 are its due as guest, ally and friend. 



