Bird Notes and News 



11 



Photographs, paintings, and the best works 

 of reference for those caring to look at them , 

 should, in my view, take the place of the 

 specimen, which destroys what it would 

 show and thus makes it more difficult really 

 to learn that which it so inefficiently en- 

 deavours to teach. The best nature-photo- 

 graphs and sketches, the best and closest 



field-notes, and only live specimens to aid 

 and supplement these, in adequate parks or 

 gardens adjoining the museum building — 

 this would be infinitely better than what 

 we now have, and all that those whose in- 

 stincts do not dictate, or whose position does 

 not allow, the study of actual field natural- 

 history, have any moral right to require." 



Bird Protection in France. 



Members of the Royal Society for the 

 Protection of Birds will be eager to give 

 a hearty welcome to the new Ligue 

 Frangaise pour la Protection des Oiseaux, 

 which has been founded by the Societe 

 Nationale d' Acclimatation de France, 

 thanks to the enthusiasm and energy of 

 M. Albert Chappellier. In the first num- 

 ber of its Bulletin, the President of the 

 Ligue, M. Magaud d'Aubusson, outlines 

 the programme of the new organization. 

 We owe, he remarks, much to the birds ; in 

 all places their progressive diminution has 

 coincided with an increase of insect pests ; 

 and the birds of France are decreasing in 

 a way that strikes even the least observant 

 eye. Special allusion is made to the destruc- 

 tion by traps, nets, etc., often carried on 

 under the eyes of the authorities. "The 

 real enemy of the bird is not the man with 

 the gun, whose action is limited, but the 

 professional snarer, who counts his daily 

 plunder by dozens and hundreds." Thanks 

 to inadequate laws, Robins and Warblers 

 and other little song-birds, are seen in 

 the markets in some departments, w^hile in 

 other departments this is severely pro- 

 hibited. In place of the anomalies of 

 the present law% legislation is needed for 

 the preservation of useful species, not 

 only in nesting-time, but also at the 

 migration season. The League proposes 

 to study systematically the Unes of route 

 followed by migrants which cross the 



country, or which take their way by the 

 French coast. To encourage indigenous 

 birds it will promote the employment of 

 Nesting-boxes, protection of broods, and 

 food in winter. It will also enter the 

 schools, to speak to teachers and children 

 of the value of birds and to give encourage- 

 ment and rewards to those who love and 

 protect them. 



The League, however, will not stop 

 with the protection of indigenous birds. 

 Over and beyond the entente wliich will 

 be established with societies for Bird 

 Protection which have for a long time 

 existed in other great nations of Europe, 

 it wall cross the seas to give its support 

 and influence to the preservation of those 

 species which, through the beauty of their 

 plumage, are made the victims of a 

 barbarous mode. 



The first (March) number of the 

 " Bulletin " also includes articles on 

 Nesting-boxes, by Dr. Pierre Vincent, 

 and on the care and feeding of birds in 

 winter, by M. Chappellier. 



Starting under influential auspices, the 

 League may be trusted to secure, as it 

 invites, "the co-operation of all interested 

 in the bird, who love it for the charm of 

 its melody, the beauty of its form, the 

 variety and brilliance of its plumage, the 

 friendliness of its ways, and the invaluable 

 services it renders," 



