Bird Notes and News 



23 



A tax seems to be the only way of keeping 

 down their number, but the measure has not 

 been adopted so far." 



According to the Paris correspondent 

 of the Standard, the Swiss Government 

 is taking in hand the preservation of 

 Eagles ; not, it would appear, on account 

 of Swiss appreciation of the magnificence 

 of the birds, but because tourists require 

 that the picturesque grandeur of lake and 

 mountain should be accentuated by the 

 presence of the soaring bird. National 

 gamekeepers are instructed to preserve 

 birds and nests, and the national Treasury 



undertakes to pay farmers for any destruc- 

 tion wrought among their live stock. In 

 Great Britain it is not always possible to 

 persuade local bodies even to give legal 

 protection to Peregrine and Buzzard and 

 Raven, while anything in the shape of 

 keeper or compensation has to be provided 

 by private societies ; yet the mountains 

 of Wales and Scotland, and the rocky 

 coasts of south-west England require 

 more than do the Alps the enhancing 

 presence of the hovering bird-form, in 

 order to intensify the sublimity and 

 wildness of inanimate Nature. 



Bird Protection in Holland. 



The R.S.P.B. learns from M. van Vollen- 

 hoven that a new and excellent law for 

 the Protection of Birds was passed by the 

 House of Commons of the Netherlands 

 on March 29th last. Although Holland 

 was not one of the parties to the Inter- 

 national Convention of 1902, the country 

 has somewhat elaborate laws on the 

 subject, the principal enactment dating 

 from 1880, the year of Great Britain's 

 principal Act. By this Act the killing, 

 catcliing, sale, or possession was forbidden 

 of birds useful to agriculture or forestry, 

 the protection extending (as is usual in 

 the legislation of countries other than 

 Britain) to nests and eggs. The birds 

 placed in this category included the 

 Swallows, Martins, Swift, Warblers, 

 Pipits, Nightjar, Cuckoo, Tits, Hedge- 

 Sparrow, Tree-creeper, and Goldcrest ; 

 while for nine months in the year Thrush, 

 Blackbird and Skylark were included. 

 Exemption was given to owners and occu- 

 piers of walled or fenced-in properties. 

 It is now proposed to accede to the 

 requirements of the Paris Convention, 

 and the new law, in place of scheduling. 



or attempting to schedule, the useful 

 birds will prohibit the catching and killing, 

 sale or possession of all birds, together with 

 the destruction of nests and eggs, and the 

 transit of birds, eggs, or skins, excepting 

 only poultry, game-birds, and a few species 

 recognized as harmful. A certain exemp- 

 tion is to be given in favour of science, and 

 householders may destroy nests on their 

 own buildings ; eggs of Peewits and Gulls 

 may be taken between fixed dates ; the 

 catching of Thrushes is to be permitted 

 for five years, and estate owners may 

 destroy birds and nests if they prove 

 damage done by the birds. 



M. VoUenhoven writes on June 11th, 

 that the Bill was then before the House 

 of Lords, but was meeting with consider- 

 able opposition, with regard to some of 

 its propositions and also on account of 

 its length and complexity as compared 

 with the existing Act. 



From reports received by the R.S.P.B. 

 the chief danger and worst enemy of 

 the birds of Holland appears to be the 

 British collector. 



