64 



Bird Notes and News 



had their A^dngs tied by thin thread, and 

 five were braced, and all suffered from 

 suffocation as well as from being tied ; six 

 died the same night. Defendant pulled 

 another decoy bird out of a bag in his pocket. 

 The police stated that a number of bird- 

 catching gangs came down from Bristol, 

 and when challenged one would escape with 

 the birds and another with the nets. De- 

 fendant admitted that he had been feeding 

 the birds for a week at the spot so as to 

 entice them there. — At St. Columh Minor, 

 William Wilson was fined 18s. 6d. for taking 

 Goldfinches with lime. He had decoy birds 

 and limed t^ngs, and had caught five birds, 

 which the police Hberated. — At Manchester, 

 on November 12, George Saunders ana 

 Abraham Etchells were convicted for cruelty 

 to a decoy Redpoll. Braced with string and 

 made to flutter to attract other birds, its 

 wing was injured and bleeding. — At Merthyr, 

 on November 5, AndreAv Lochlin was fined 

 10s. and costs for having a wild bird in a 

 cage 5 inches square. He was out bird- 

 catching on the Aberdare mountain. 



A Chaffinch in Court. — At Woolwich, 

 on November 17, Albert Main waring was 

 fined 2s. 6d. for possession of a newly-caught 

 Chaffinch. In explaining to the magistrate 

 how defendant's trap worked, the constable 

 opened one of the doors and the Chaffinch 

 flew out and up to the roof of the Court. 

 The skylight was opened to release it, and 

 the destruction of the trap ordered. 



Shooting an Owl. — At Grantham, on 

 October 5, James Whittle, a farmer's son, was 

 fined Is. and costs for shooting a Bam-Owl. 

 He said he did not know it was a scheduled 

 bird. (He ought to have known that it was 

 a useful one.) 



Shooting a Kestrel. — At Feltham, on 

 November 15th, George Bryant, of Hope 

 Farm, Charlton, was fined 10s. for shooting 

 a Kestrel on Sunday, October 20th. Defen- 

 dant stood up in a trap in the road to shoot 

 the bird, and said in defence that he and 

 other farmers regarded the Kestrel as a pest. 

 A second summons for firing a gun on the 

 highway, and without a license, was dis- 

 missed, on the ground that no one Avas 

 endangered and that the renewal of the 

 license had been forgotten. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



"Our Swallows' Winter Home." 



THE SOCIETY'S GREETING-CARD 

 FOR 1912-13. 

 Design specially painted by 



Mr. Charles Whymper, R.I., 



the eminent artist. Reproduced in colour. 



As hanging Calendar for 1913, or, without 

 Calendar, as folding card with verses by Miss Mary 

 Coleridge. 



Price 3d., one doz. 2/6. 



"For Love of Beasts." 



No one interested in birds and animals should 

 omit to read and to circulate the brilliant articles 

 by Mr. John Galsworthy, reprinted with permission 

 from the Pall Mall Gazette, by favovu- of the author. 



" No nation approaches ourselves in ' love of 

 beasts ' ; by none is the ear inclined more readily 

 to the appeal of dumb suffering. Mr. Galsworthy, 

 whose interest in the Society for the Protection of 

 Birds is so well known, has given that appeal the 

 enhancement of all his dramatic subtlety." 



Observer, July 14th, 1912. 



Price 2d., post-free. 



" The Story of the Egret." 



Probably no set of photographs has ever done 

 better work than " The Story of the Egret," as 

 photographed by Mr. Mattingley. A bijou edition, 

 eight pages, duodecimo size, is now issued by the 

 R.S.P.B., and is especially suitable for enclosing 

 in letters, for placing on drawing-room tables, and 

 for other purposes for which the larger albums and 

 the wall-sheets are not convenient. 



One copy Id., by post l^d. ; one doz. 9d. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR 

 THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS, 



23. QUEEN ANNE'S GATE. S.W. 



BntD NoTBS AND News (issued quarterly) will 

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To Members of the Society subscribing os. and 

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Printed by Witherby & Co., 326, High Holborn, W.C, and 

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