108 



Bird Notes and News 



The second writer, a lady, wrote to a 

 local ironmongery firm whose catalogue 

 advertised bird-lime. The firm replied : — 



" We are pleased to be able to tell you 

 that we do not stock same and have had no 

 enquiries for it. The catalogues we circulate 

 are not compiled solely for us but for the 

 trade in general. We must admit the 

 advertisement is therefore misleading and 

 will cross same with blue pencil in all further 

 copies issued." 



Sufficient protests might lead to the removal 

 of the item from the trade catalogue. 



The Shooting Times remarks : " The Wild 

 Birds Protection Act is absolutely a dead 

 letter in most parts of the country. The 

 Government should appoint inspectors whose 

 duty it should be to be continually travelling 

 through the country waking up the sleepy 

 constables." Much of the " deadness," how- 

 ever, may be referred to the magistrates, 

 whose leniency to offenders of this class is 

 too often calculated to bring the law into 

 contempt and to discourage the police. 



Economic Ornithology. 



IS THE DIPPER AN ENEMY OF 

 TROUT ? 



The Rev, E. T. Daubeney, whose articles 

 on the Gull and the Heron [Bird Notes 

 and News, Summer and Winter numbers, 

 1912) have attracted much attention, 

 writes : — 



" I have been so situated in life as to have 

 had unusual opportunities of studying the 

 ways and habits of trout, as well as those of 

 their friends and also of their foes. For 

 nearly 20 years I kept a pet troutery in my 

 garden ; which consisted of two moats fed 

 by a clear chalk stream. There I learned 

 more about trout than even here, where 

 I reside within 200 yards of the river Nar, 

 which provides many a splendid basket of 

 speckled beauties. Of all pets I have ever 

 had none were so attractive, and full of 

 interest, as the denizens of my troutery. 

 In the garden I set up a hatching apparatus, 

 and spawned my own fish. It was in looking 

 after the newly born fry that I learned more 

 of the enemies of trout than in any other 

 way. The conviction has established itself 

 in my mind that small enemies are far more 



formidable than large ones : and that the 

 smaller they are the more damage they do. 

 The trout has many kinds of mischievous and 

 intangible enemies which are to be met with 

 in countless numbers in every piece of water 

 the country through. 



" ' Whirligig ' beetles, which amuse us 

 with their antics in some quiet corner of 

 a pond or stream, are not only savage in 

 their attacks, but their larvae also are 

 carnivorous. The same may be said of 

 ' Water-boatmen ' and of Water-scorpions,' 

 which as larvae and perfect insects lurk in 

 ambush, ' seeking whom they may devour.' 

 Water-beetles are ubiquitous and numerous ; 

 their larvae, like the perfect insect, are in 

 almost all cases carnivorous, ' feeding upon 

 flesh either alive or dead,' and are provided 

 with terrible weapons to secure their prey. 

 Of them it is said that their ' jaws are formed 

 after a curious fashion, being perforated 

 throughout their length, as the poison fangs 

 of a serpent, so as to capture and retain their 

 prey : but also as a medium through which 

 the juices can be sucked into the mouth. 

 No sooner does an insect or small creature 

 appear in the neighbourhood of its hiding 



