Bird Notes and News 



75-. 



BIRD-PROTECTION 

 AUSTRALIA. 



IN 



Although the R.S.P.B. much regret to 

 chronicle the dissolution of the South 

 Australian Branch of the Society, it is 

 pleasant to realise how much has been 

 done in the cause of the Birds in Australia 

 since the Bird Protection flag was planted 

 there in 1894. Those who gathered round 

 the first Hon. Secretary of the Branch 

 (Mrs. John Playford) and were fired by 

 her ardour, did well their part in bringing 

 about a better state of things ; and they 

 had the help of supporters like Sir Samuel 

 Way, Mr. le Hunte, Bishop and Mrs. 

 Harmer, Sir John Cockburn, and Lady 

 Victoria Buxton. Since that time Aus- 

 tralia has enacted laws for the protection 

 of native birds ; laws prohibiting the 

 exportation of skins and plumage of 

 native birds ; laws prohibiting the im- 

 portation of skins or plumage (in the raw 

 state or made up) of Egrets, Birds-of- 

 paradise, and other persecuted species. 

 Bird and Arbor Day has been instituted 

 in association with School Bird-Protection 



Clubs. No doubt the laws are defeated 

 to some extent by unworthy sportsmen 

 on one hand and by smuggling on the 

 other ; but on the plume-question at 

 least Australia is ahead of the old country. 

 The growth of naturalists' societies and 

 animal-protection societies, and the work 

 of education authorities, has made the 

 need less urgent for specific work on; 

 behalf of the birds. 



BIRD-PROTECTION IN EGYPT. 



The Chairman of the Society (Mr. 

 Montagu Sharpe) has lately interviewed 

 the authorities in Egypt on the protection 

 of Quail, Egrets, and other birds, and is 

 able to report that the laws of 1912 are 

 being well published in EngHsh, French, 

 and Arabic. One of these laws prohibits 

 the killing, taking, sale, or possession, 

 (alive or dead) of certain named birds, 

 and the use of lime. The birds include- 

 the Lark, Wagtail, Warblers, Wheatear, 

 Flycatcher, Pipit, Bee-eater, Hoopoe, 

 Curlew, and Egret. The second enact- 

 ment institutes a £10 gun-licence, non-^ 

 transferable. 



Economic Ornithology. 



THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF 

 THE HERON. 



At the meeting of the Carmarthen Fishery 

 Board on January 31st, considerable dis- 

 cussion took place with regard to the 

 Heron, reference being made to the 

 article which appeared in the Winter 

 Number of Bird Notes and News. One 

 speaker proposed that 2s. a head be given 

 for a certain time in order to reduce the 

 number of birds. Mr. Mervyn Peel urged 

 that there was not sufficient evidence on 

 which to start a campaign of exter- 



mination ; that the Heron was in many 

 ways the friend of the fisherman ; that 

 the rivers were full of fish ; and that the 

 birds added beauty to the landscape and 

 interest to a day's fishing. It was decided 

 to defer the matter for six months. 



A letter on this subject from South 

 Carohna appears in another column. In 

 further reference to it, Mr. E. J. Brook 

 writes from Hoddam Castle, Eccle- 

 fechan : — 



" I wonder whether it is generally knowu 

 that our own native Herons devour large 



