30 



Bird Notes and News 



The following frank statement of the 

 doings of Sparrow Clubs, even where House- 

 Sparrows are the only birds for which a 

 reward is offered, comes from the Secretary 

 of a Club which boasts of having killed over 

 eleven thousand Sparrows last year. It is 

 also interesting as showing the extent to 

 which Bird-protection laws and notices are 

 disregarded where police and magistrates 

 do not enforce them. Needless to say it was 

 not addressed to the R.S.P.B. : — 



" Yes, all kinds of birds get killed with 

 our sparrows, but the club pays for sparrows 

 only. Where sparrows are numerous clap- 

 nets are very effective ; then, of course, all 

 kinds of birds are caught, but of course 

 you can let them off again if you think fit. 

 All kinds of notices are put up by officials 

 with regard to protection of certain kinds 

 of birds, but naturally the farmer has to 

 look after his OAvn interests, and these 

 inspectors rarely trouble us." 



The italics are the Club Secretary's. 

 It would be interesting to know what 

 proportion " all kinds of birds " bear to 

 the 11,000 sparrows ; what protected species 

 are among them ; and how far the farmer is 

 looking after his own interests in encouraging 

 their indiscriminate destruction. 

 * * * 



It is singular that in England, a country 



where birds are celebrated for the variety 

 and beauty of their song, the music of birds 

 should be, as a study, almost entirely 

 neglected, and their notes unknown to 999 

 persons out of 1,000. The scope for such study 

 iS brought into prominence by an interesting 

 article in the latest volume of Aquila (the 

 official publication of the Hungarian Chamber 

 of Ornithology), where the winter notes of 

 many species are recorded and four pages of 

 music are devoted to those of the Great Tit. 

 In the United States also the matter receives 

 more attention than in Britain. Mr. B. 

 Haworth-Booth sends the R.S.P.B. a Bos- 

 ton (U.S.A.) newspaper report of a lecture, 

 given by a naturalist-musician, Mr. Schuyler 

 Matthews, who rightly points out that bird- 

 music is a study with a great future and one 

 that must bring about a better understanding 

 of bird-life and form one of the strongest 

 bases of bird protection. Mr. Matthews 

 deals with it scientifically, and comes to the 

 conclusion that the musical scale in bird-land 

 is the pentatonic, the primitive scale in which 

 nearly all the old folk-songs are written. He 

 seeks out the motif of each species, and holds 

 that the bird keeps perfect time, as tested 

 by the metronome, but does not always 

 sing true. 



Books Received. 



Report of the 5th International 

 Ornithological Congress, Berlin, 1910. 

 (Berlin : Deutsche Omithologische Gesell- 

 schaft). The papers are published in the 

 language (usually German) in which they 

 were read. 



Dyrbvaerneforeningen " SvALEN." Co- 

 penhagen, 1912. The report for 1911 of 

 the excellent work of the Danish Society. 



American Game Protection. — The U.S.A. 

 Department of Agriculture has issued a useful 

 Chronology and Index of the more important 

 events in American Game Protection from 

 1776 to 1911. The need for some such index 



is shown by the fact that in the first decade 

 of this century 1,324 Acts were passed by the 

 States of the Union. 



The Rarer Birds of Somerset. By 

 Amy Smith. (Taunton : The Wessex Press). 

 It is rather difficult to say what purpose this 

 neat little compilation mil [serve. The 

 descriptions are too detailed to be much 

 guide to outdoor bird-watchers ; size and 

 song are entirely overlooked. 



Diary of Birds' Nests and Eggs. 

 (London : Hugh Rees, Ltd.) Blank sheets 

 for records. 



