6 



Bird Notes and News 



been used and the breast eut away from the 

 birds. The white or Laysan Albatross was 

 the chief sufPerer ; next the Black-footed 

 Albatross, with the Frigate Bird and the 

 Blue-faced Booby-bird following in order of 

 number killed. 



In due course, if import should still 

 be permitted in England, no doubt the 

 feathers pulled by the thieves from these 

 massacred birds, will appear in the London 

 milliners' shops, dubbed, in case of inquiry, 

 "poultry." 



Notes. 



The Bird-Protection law of Malta, enacted 

 in 1911, appears still to be inadequate, in 

 that it is directed only towards the preserva- 

 tion of the Warblers and other small land- 

 birds. A member of the R.S.P.B. now 

 stationed in the island, draws the Society's 

 attention to a paper on the Mediterranean 

 Shearwater, or " Great Berta," contributed 

 to the Bulletin of the local Historical and 

 Literary Society by Signer G. Despott, a 

 leading ornithologist of Malta, who avers 

 that this fine species is in imminent danger 

 of extermination. 



The war waged on the Great Berta during 

 recent times, writes Signor Despott, has 

 been relentless, and is carried on simply for 

 the amusement of " sportsmen," who leave 

 the shores at sunset in boats, mostly provided 

 with the required licence, and kill or maim 

 any bird they can hit. The wounded, 

 greater in number than the killed, fall into 

 the sea and are left there to die of their 

 injuries or of starvation — just as in the old 

 days the Gulls of Flamborough were left to 

 perish miserably by the sporting 'Arry on 

 his holiday. The habit of the birds to flock 

 rormd a wounded comrade affords the 

 shooters opportunity for easy slaughter. 

 The growing scarcity of the bird is attested 

 in a peculiar manner. It was the custom to 

 catch them with nets, remove the mider-wing 

 feathers for use in fishing, and then release 



them. It does not sound a particularly 



pleasant experience for the Shearwater. A 



considerable trade was done in the feathers, 



quantities of which were exported to the 



Orient. Ten years ago a single hunter could 



make £10 or £15 in a season, where now 



it is impossible to make 10s. Malta is the 



chief home of the species, and the marked 



diminution in its numbers is being observed 



in other Mediterranean countries. Signor 



Despott adds : 



" Last year, while deploring the fact in 

 the presence of two gentlemen whom I 

 thought in a position to prevent this de- 

 struction, one of them stated that as the 

 bird was of no practical use there was no 

 reason to protect it ; the other added that 

 the matter was too sentimental to be taken 

 into consideration." 



* * * 



The " sentimentality " of the ornithologist 



who objects to the extermination of a species, 



or of the sportsman who objects to senseless 



butchery, is nothing to that of some other 



classes of the community who can hardly 



be regarded as bird-protectors. There is, 



for instance, the lady who was summoned at 



Westminster the other day for having left 



two Linnets and a Goldfinch without food for 



nearly a week, so that they had starved to 



death, their breast-bones having cut through 



their skins ; but who avowed that she 



" loved birds." She represents a large class 



of birdcatchers and birdkeepers whose love 



is indicated in somewhat similar fashion. 



