Bird Notes and News 



The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 



ANNUAL MEETING. 



The Annual Meeting of the Society was 

 held on March 16th, 1916, at the Middlesex 

 Guildhall. The Report and Statement of 

 Accounts were adopted, on the motion of 

 Mr. Montagu Sharpe, who presided, 

 seconded by Sir John Cockburn ; and 

 the Council and Officers were re-elected. 

 The Silver Medal and other awards in the 

 Public School Competition were presented 

 by the Hon. Mrs. Henniker. The following 

 resolution, proposed by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant 

 and seconded by Mr. Walter Goodfellow, 

 was carried unanimously : 



" That this Society, mindful of the neces- 

 sit}^ at the present crisis of restricting 

 imports and of curtailing extravagant ex- 

 penditure ; having regard also to the fact 

 that Importation of the Plumage of Wild 

 Birds for millinery and ornamental purposes 

 has already been condemned by both Houses 

 of Parliament, and that the Government 

 Bill of 1914 failed to pass into law only 

 through the outbreak of war : urgently calls 

 upon the Government to prohibit entirely 

 the Importation of Wild Birds' Plumage — 

 Ostrich -feathers and Eider-down only ex- 

 cepted — as a useless and undesirable import 

 and a wholly indefensible form of extrava- 

 gance." 



A Report of the proceedings will be 

 incorporated, as usual, in the Annual 

 Report, now in the press, and a paper on 

 Birds and Game-Preserves, contributed by 

 " East Sussex," will appear in the Summer 

 Number of Bird Notes and News. 



COUNCIL MEETING. 



The Council's quarterly meeting M^as 

 held at the Middlesex Guildhall, West- 

 minster, S.W., on January 28th, Mr. 

 Montagu Sharpe (Chairman) presiding. 

 There were also present : Mr. Bell, Miss 



Clifton, Miss Hall, the Hon. Mrs. Henniker, 

 Mr. F. E. Lemon (Hon. Sec), Mrs. Lemon, 

 Mr. Meade- Waldo, Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, 

 Miss Pollock, and Captain Tailby, and 

 Miss Gardiner (Secretary). 



Hon. Secretary's Report. 

 The Hon. Secretary reported that the 

 Wexford Bird Protection Order, protecting 

 all eggs in the Saltee and Keeragh Islands, 

 had been renoM^ed ; that ten lectures 

 had been given since December 15, and 

 that twenty-six Bird and Tree Festivals 

 had been held. The Society's greeting- 

 card, " Into Battle," had had a large sale, 

 and special editions had been supplied 

 with the regimental badges of the 3rd 

 City of London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) 

 and the Seaforth Highlanders, respec- 

 tively. A resolution of thanks to Lord 

 Desborough for permitting the use of the 

 words, ana to Mr. Murray Dixon for the 

 generous gift of the picture, was agreed to. 



Finance and General Purposes 

 Committee. 



The statement of accounts for the year 

 1915 was approved, subject to audit. 

 Mr. Edward J. Bolton, F.R.Met.Soc, of 

 Thornbury Hall, Cheadle, was elected as 

 Hon. Secretary for North Staffordshire, 

 in conjunction with Mr. J. R. B. Masefield. 

 Miss Rhoda Broughton, for many years 

 a Member of the Society, was elected a 

 Fellow ; and the following new Members 

 were elected : 



Mrs. Bolton (Staffordshire) ; Miss A. L. 

 Bolton (Edgbaston) : Captain A. G. Drum- 

 mond (Watford) ; Miss Pauline Hall (Addis- 

 combe) ; F. J. S. Humphreys (London, W.) ; 

 Major Jackson (Salisbury) ; Captain H. H. 

 Smyth, R.N. (Cornwall) ; the Viscountess 

 de Vesci (London, S.W.) ; Mrs. Viener 

 (Lancashire). 



