36 



Bird Notes and News 



Notes. 



The interest attaching to Easter Island, 

 long a problem to archseologists on account 

 of the huge and mysterious stone statues 

 bequeathed to it by some unknown race of 

 an unknoA'STi era, has been increased by a 

 paper read at the British Association on 

 September iOth by Mrs. Scoresby Routledge. 

 The natives of this island, she said, took a 

 great interest in the arrival of the migratory 

 birds in summer, and there was a sort of 

 " Derby " for possession of the first egg laid. 

 The man who found it made the fact known 

 with great jubilation, and afterwards shaved 

 liis head with solemn oblation. Chronology 

 was maintained through the names of the 

 men who had secured the first egg of the 

 season. After the finder got his egg he went 

 to tiie momitain, followed by his happy 

 relations, and there there were general 

 rejoicings. The egg was afterwards hung on 

 the ceiling of the man's house for one year, 

 and then buried at the top of the mountain. 

 When the life of the " Bird Man " came to 

 an end he also was buried on the mountain 

 under some stones. 



* * * 



The records of Scottish wild birds, as 

 chronicled in the Scottish Naturalist (July- 

 August, 1916) shows an extension of the 

 breeding-range of the Crested Tit and 

 the Gannet. The Tit, which is exclusively 

 a Scottish species and nests in a very few 

 districts, is the subject of constant persecu- 

 tion by the collector ; so that the news of 

 fresh habitats given by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant 

 and Mr. Berry is peculiarly welcome. The 

 Gannet, which has colonised no new sites 

 for many years, has several nesting-gromids 

 in Scotland and Ireland, and one in Wales, 



but, it is to be feared, has been finally driven 

 away from Lundy, its one English breeding- 

 site, since the efforts of the Society in that 

 island failed of effect. This year the new 

 site recorded is on the Noup of Noss, Bressay, 

 a district in which the Watchers of the 

 R.S.P.B. are active. 



Though facts as to the immense im- 

 portation of timber into this coimtry, and 

 the grave problems presented by the needs 

 of the War, must have pressed home the 

 necessity for afforestation, it would appear 

 that Government and other authorities 

 remain as blind to the need for systematic 

 planting as they are to the need for the 

 special protection of insectivorous birds. 

 A writer in Country Life (July 20, 1916), 

 says : ' ' We are cutting down our stock of 

 wood for pit-props and railway sleepers 

 to such an extent that whole districts of 

 Surrey are being denuded of trees. No 

 steps are bemg taken to replace these lost 

 treasures. Richard Jefferies once rejoiced 

 over his belief that the world could not 

 " cut down clouds " ; but an American 

 writer has jDointed out tliat this is precisely 

 v/hat is done by the drastic cutting down of 

 trees : the land in due course loses its 

 moisture and its fertility. By the time 

 Bird-and-Tree Day is adopted nationally, 

 as a means of education essential to country 

 children, the axe and the caterpillar together 

 may have changed the face and the climate 



of England. 



* * * 



Various views as to the caging of wild 

 birds are held by various persons ; but apart 

 from the bird-shop there is, perhaps, no 



