Bird Notes and News 



107 



Notes. 



There is good reason to believe that the 

 French Government are about to take 

 practical measures for the protection of 

 the Swallow, tlirough the initiative, says 

 the Daily Telegraph, of the Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds and a friendly 

 exchange of opinions between the Govern- 

 ments of the two countries." Facts collected 

 by the R.S.P.B. have been laid before the 

 Foreign Office, and Sir Edward Grey has 

 put the case sympathetically to our cross- 

 Channel neighbours. French correspondents 

 of the R.S.P.B. confirm reports made of 

 the enormous destruction of Swallows for 

 the plume market in past years — destruction 

 of a character " veritablement alarmant," 

 says Dr. Siepi, of Marseilles. For this, 

 England is now paying a heavy price in the 

 loss of invaluable insectivorous allies of 

 man. * * * 



One section of Mr. Hobhouse's Bill 

 bears no relation to the plume-trade. 

 This is a short clause proposing to 

 give the Home Secretary power to make 

 Orders for the protection of Birds in Great 

 Britain without any application or repre- 

 sentation from a County or Borough Council. 

 The provision does not, of course, interfere 

 with the power of Councils to make such 



applications. 



* * * 



" The coming of the 1st of August means 

 the letting loose of the professional bird- 

 catcher ; it means also the utter destruction 

 of the pleasure and peace of mind of every 

 tender-hearted, every observant and moder- 

 ately sensitive, individual wlio is in the 

 habit of walking on the downs and through 

 the country fields and lanes. Limed tA^-igs 

 and plantain stalks are laid do\ATi all round 

 the edges of the upland ponds where birds 

 are forced to alight and drink if they are 



not to go waterless, and twigs and nets 

 both claim their captives by the hundred. 

 When night falls, the living palpitating 

 bodies that in the morning were flitting over 

 the down-flowers and breaking out into 

 happy song, are shut up in dark airless cells, 

 sentenced to perpetual imprisonment unless 

 kind death releases them." 



Thus the writer of the " Out-of-Doors " 

 column in the Hampshire Chronicle. It 

 may be added that to the towna-dweller 

 this same season brings the misery of seeing 

 the panting, terrified wild birds in their 

 frantic misery in 5 in. cages, in the close 

 bird-shop and on the wall of the public -house 

 and the tenement, and on the barrows of 

 the coster's cart in ^Vhitechapel. What is 

 the bird-lover of town or country to do ? 

 Keep the question to the fore, push it on 

 public opinion ; destroy the limed t\ngs ; 

 find out from the local Protection Order 

 what birds are protected at this season 

 and see to it that these are not caught or 

 found, newly-caught, in cages ; worry the 

 County Council into getting an amended 

 Order if needed, remind the police what 

 the Bird Protection laws are, and that it 

 is their duty to carry them out. The police 

 may say that it is R.S.P.C.A. work ; but 

 the work of the R..S.P.C.A. does not lift a 

 jot of responsibility off the police. 

 * * * 



Two further suggestions come from corre- 

 spondents of the R.S.P.B. : — 



" Near the house of a friend, who is 

 president of the Croydon Natural History 

 Society, a man took up a position on the 

 green and spread nets, etc., to catch the birds. 

 My friend simply walked on to the green 

 and paced that piece of ground for an hour 

 or so. The birdcatcher, after vainly pro- 

 testing, gathered up his nets and left, 

 giving vent to the usual adjectives," 



