Bird Notes and News 



27 



cedure is illegal, and he waxed indignant 

 when some British owner of Homing Pigeons 

 threatened to prosecute hira for shooting 

 one of his birds. There is far too great 

 laxity in this comitry in the matter of 

 granting gun licences, while thousands of 

 people shoot every year without any licence 

 at all. It is persons of this description who 

 are largely responsible for the shooting of 

 rare and useful birds. 



Since the passing of the Pole Trap Act, the 

 lives of many innocent birds, such as Owls 

 of sorts, Hawks and Falcons, have been 

 saved, but it is to be feared that this style 

 of trapping still continues in remote parts 

 of the country. Law or no law, no decent 

 game-preserver ought ever to allow so hideous 

 an engine of destruction to be used on his 

 property, nor ought the use of " platform " 

 traps or artificial nests, baited with eggs 

 and containing a concealed trap, to be 

 permitted. These platform traps are used 

 mainly with the object of trapping Jays 

 and Magpies — two species whose crimes 

 against the game-preserver are without 

 doubt greatly exaggerated. It is well- 

 known that a Magpie will, if it happen to 

 come across the nest of Partridge or Pheasant, 

 be tempted to take the eggs, but it is 

 ridiculous to suppose that the Magpie's 

 principal diet diiring the nesting season 

 consists of the eggs of these birds. The 

 nests of common wild birds abound in every 

 wood and hedgerow at the time when the 

 Pheasants and Partridges are laying, and 

 these nests are so easily foxmd that any 

 Magpie can obtain sufficient food of this 

 description almost without the trouble of 

 looking for it. The eggs of game-birds are 

 far more difiicult to find, and a hungiy 

 Magpie looking for eggs would certainly 

 take these last of all. I have always thought 



it very unfair of the game-keeper to bait his 

 traps with the eggs of Blackbirds and 

 Thrushes, and I believe him to do so be- 

 cause these prove to be a more attractive 

 bait than tlie eggs of game-birds. That in 

 itself seems to be an admission on the 

 keeper's part that Magpies and Jays prefer 

 the eggs of small birds to those of game. 

 Where the nest of a game-bird is so exposed 

 that it is readily found bj^ a Magpie, the 

 chances are that that nest would have been 

 destroyed in some other way had the 

 Magpie never found it, and it is supposed to 

 be every keeper's business to remove the 

 eggs from such exposed places before they 

 are stolen or destroyed. 



In regard to Rooks and Crows, which 

 usually figure largely in the keeper's list of 

 vermin, I wotdd not condemn the shooting 

 of certain individuals of either species when 

 they take to destroying the eggs or young 

 of game-birds. I know from experience 

 that at times one or two Rooks or Crows 

 of particularly depraved taste will take to 

 these bad habits, and if they are allowed to 

 persist in them, they will teach their 

 comrades to do the same. On the other 

 hand I know that when these one or two 

 sinners have been destroyed, the mischief 

 will usually cease, and the destruction ot 

 one or two birds may in this way be the 

 means of saving others as well as putting 

 an end to the trouble from the keeper's 

 point of view. It is mostly in long periods 

 of dry weather, when animal food is scarce, 

 that Rooks and Crows take to visiting 

 game preserves, but in any case the season 

 during which these birds can do the game- 

 keeper harm is a short one. 



In many parts of the country, as I am 

 happy to say, far greater respect than here- 

 tofore is shown for Owls. I know of some 



