Bird Notes and News 



55 



The Draper has apparently been sitting at the 

 feet of Lieut.-Col. Archer Shee and imbibing 

 some of his extensive and peculiar ornithological 

 learning. Endeavouring to disprove any con- 

 nection between the disappearance of the 

 Swallow and the slaughter of this bird for 

 millinery, it adds : — 



" By the way.swallows are nob the only insect- 

 eating birds that are scarce this year. I am told that 

 there are fewer bats about than usual " ! 



Another trade organ gives away the character 

 of its friends rather unkindly. " Fifteen 

 thousand ounces of farmed plumes," it states, 

 " reach London annually from British India." 

 If so, they are, of course, all smuggled. Yet 

 this is brought forward as a reason for relaxing 

 restrictions. The assertion suggests rather 

 that vigilance will be needed in future to 

 prevent smuggling of prohibited feathers 

 by aeroplane and parcel post. 



The Drapers Organizer takes a different 



view : — 



" The importation of Humming Bird, Paradise, 

 and Egret plumage will not be possible much longer. 



The matter is of real moment to makers of ribbons, 

 artificial flowers, and artificial hat ornaments in 

 general, and if they take advantage of their new 

 opportunity, employment will be increased rather than 

 decreased under the new condition. Business in 

 Ostrich feathers and eiderdown is not concerned by the 

 prohibition." 



The trade themselves are shrewd enough to 

 understand the wisdom of pushing the trade in 

 Ostrich feathers which the Plumage Act opens 

 out, and is circulating literature on the subject 

 happily more credible and creditable than the 

 varieties of Venezuelan and Papuan legend 

 concerning Egret and Bird-of-Paradise so 

 lavishly distributed for the benefit of " the 

 ladies of England." No one can have the 

 slightest doubt of the stimulus which the 

 prohibition of wild-bird plumage must give 

 to Ostrich-farming in our Colonies, a fact 

 pointed out continually, and in every anti- 

 plumage campaign, by the Royal Society for the 

 Protection of Birds. The Ostrich " boom " 

 will however be contingent, more or less, upon 

 the extent to which the honest Ostrich feather 

 is kept clear of prohibited and " suspect " 

 plumage which some dealers will be eager to 

 associate with it and to sell under its cover. 



Bird and Tree Challenge Shield Competition 



The Essays for this year's Competition show 

 a general increase in number on those of 

 recent years, though one or two counties 

 still are very far from their pre-war form. 

 An overcrowded curriculum is usually held 

 responsible for this ; frequent changes in 

 stafi are probably even more so. It is hoped 

 that next year a County Challenge Shield for 

 Surrey may be added to the list, as the schools 

 in that county are being invited to enter. 



Festivals in celebration of one year's work 

 continue almost until those of the next year 

 begin. Newburgh, which won the Lancashire 

 Challenge Shield for 1920, had a pleasant 

 and inspiring gathering on July 15th, when 

 trophy and prizes were presented by Mrs. 

 Harris, of Newburgh Vicarage. A letter was 

 read from the Bishop of Liverpool, congratulat- 

 ing teachers and scholars and expressing great 

 interest in the school's success. The head- 

 master, in reminding the children to help the 

 birds in seasons of drought and of frost, spoke 

 of the effect of such little acts in the formation 

 of character. 



One of the new entrants for 1921 is Moor 

 End Council School, Erdington, the first of the 

 Birmingham Schools to take part in the 

 Warwickshire Competition. In connection 

 with the work the Nature Study Guild formed 

 in connection with the work held a festival on 

 July 20th, when an admirable programme of 

 music and recitations was provided, together 

 with an exhibition of drawings and wild flowers 

 (85 varieties) held. In the centre of the room 

 was contrived a miniature bog, showing all 

 the flora of the swampy ground in the district. 

 Amongst other visitors was Mr. A. Flavell, 

 Inspector under the Birmingham Education 

 Committee. The Birmingham Gazette extracts 

 from one of the bird essays, adding : " Descrip- 

 tions such as these, which are written entirely 

 from a child's observation and are not in the 

 least bookish, cannot fail to be charming." 



Two of many instances of the efforts of Bird 

 and Tree Cadets to stay bird-destrucbion may 

 be cited from letters of teachers. A Lancashire 

 teacher writes : — 



" I do not think there is enough police protection in 

 this district, and many of this year's cadets have 



