24 



Bird Notes and News 



to the Art Gallery and its Natural History 

 Section. Much as the exhibits were ap- 

 preciated, it is interesting to hear that 

 the stuffed birds were pronoimced not so 

 glossy or beautiful as the living ones, nor 

 so pleasant to see. The jaunt was much 

 enjoyed, some of the children, living five 

 miles from a station, not having seen a 

 train before. 



The winners of the Second Prize for 

 Hampshire, Botley, had their Festival on 

 April 19th. The prizes were presented by 

 Lady Jenkyns, who gave an encouraging 

 address ; and appropriate songs and recita- 

 tions by the children were followed by the 

 planting ceremony, when Mrs. Osborne 

 performed the leading part and congratu- 

 lated the children on the success to which 

 the tree woiild bear lasting witness. The 

 School is starting a " Bird - and - Tree 

 Library." 



At Ellesborough (Bucks) an excellent 

 address on the educational side of the 

 Society's work was given by the Rev. S. W. 

 Vardon, Rector, and the awards presented 

 by Miss Constance Britton. 



The nesting-time, of delight and charm 

 to the bird-student, invariably brings with it 

 stories and complaints of nest-destruction 

 and of cruelty to nestlings, on the part of 

 village children. A writer in the Yorkshire 

 Telegraph gives a concrete example of the 

 egg-robbing which goes on, by furnishing 

 in detail a list of 87 nests, containing 411 

 eggs, which he watched. Of these eggs 377 

 were taken and only 31 hatched : of the 

 Thrushes' 125 there remained but 2, of the 

 Robins' 21 but 1. "Surely," adds this 

 writer, " more can be learned from watching 

 the birds than from gazing at the eggs in a 

 glass-covered box stuffed with dirty cotton- 

 wool or sawdust." Probably, however, the 

 great majority were merely sucked or 

 smashed. The best cure for this sort of 

 thmg is the R.S.P.B. Bird and Tree Com- 

 petition, which awakens genuine interest in 

 wild life, and a bird-lover could do few things 

 better for the bird-life of the coimtryside 

 than establish the scheme in the nearest 

 rural or suburban school. 



IN THE COURTS. 



Peotection of Swans. — ^At Workington 

 (Cumberland), on May 10th, two young men 

 were fined 155. each for taking two eggs 

 from a wild Swan's nest at Siddick Ponds. 

 The Chairman said it was a pity these all 

 too rare birds were not allowed to breed 

 unmolested. 



Bird -CATCHING. — At West Ham, on March 

 27th, a father and son, both named Robert 

 Mann, of Haggerston, were fined 40s. each 

 for cruelty to decoy Linnets and for taking 

 on Leyton marshes twelve Chaffinches, four 

 Titlarks, a Linnet, and a Lark. The bird- 

 catching apparatus was confiscated, and an 

 order made for all the birds to be released. 



Illegal Possession. — ^At Birmingham, on 

 May 30th, Joseph Cooper was summoned by 

 the Birmingham S.P.C.A. for illegal posses- 

 sion of newly-caught birds, and fined 10s. 

 {2s. Qd. per bird) and costs, the birds to be 

 liberated. (Mr. E. Wallington Butt having 

 recently resigned. Miss D. Sydney Vince is 

 now Secretary of the Birmingham Society 

 and must be congratulated on this con- 

 viction. ) 



Note. — The publication of Mr. Frank 

 Bonnett's paper on Bird-Protection in relation 

 to the Preservation of Game is imavoidably 

 postponed. It will appear in the Autumn 

 Number of Bird Notes and News. 



Correction. — The name of the Bridgwater 

 Field Club was accidentally omitted from 

 the list of subscriptions in the Society's 

 Annual Report. 



Bird Notes and News (issued quarterly) will 

 be sent post free to any address for Is. per annum, 

 paj'-able in advance : single numbers, 3d. 



To IMembers of the Society subscribing 5s. and 

 upwards per annum it is forwarded gratis and post 

 free. 



Printed by Witheeby & Co., 326, High Holborn, W.C, and 

 published by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 23, Queen Anne's Gate, S,W. 



