74 



Bird Notes and News 



general, especially all the insect-eating 

 species. In the sparrow-club leaflet, which 

 is constantly advertised and re-advertised, 

 not a single caution as to the inclusion of 

 other species, except a few words about 

 the narrow beak and blue eggs of the hedge- 

 sparrow, and the statement (the truth of 

 which may be judged by village residents) 

 that the " only bird likely to be mistaken 

 for the house-sparrow is the tree-sparrow." 

 In a later leaflet, again, comes a caution 

 that receivers of heads should be careful 

 not to pay twice for the same heads : not 

 a word as to any care to be taken not to 

 pay at all for heads or eggs of other birds. 



In 1908, when the question of sparrow- 

 clubs was last to the fore, a protest against 

 their tendencies and certain results was 

 addressed by the Society to the Board of 

 Agriculture. (See Bird Notes and News, 

 Autumn Number, 1908.) In 1916, and 

 again in the present year, the Society urged 

 upon the Board the need of leaflets pointing 

 out the enormous benefits conferred upon 

 agriculture by birds in general, and of 

 publications tending to stimulate or promote 

 the study of birdlife in relation to entomology 

 and agriculture. 



" In knowledge on this important subject 

 (the Society pointed out) Great Britain 

 is far behind some other countries, notably 

 the United States of America ; and among 

 the generality of people it cannot be said 

 to have any existence. In view of this 

 lack of knowledge, encouragement given 

 to destroy birds and to regard those of 

 doubtful position as ' vermin,' must in- 

 evitably lead to the destruction of immense 

 numbers of insectivorous species, whose 

 value, at the present time especially, is 

 incalculable. . . . The agricultural popula- 

 tion is very fuUy aware of the depredations 

 committed by certain species at certain 

 times, these depredations being conspicuous 

 and evident. But on the other hand, 

 leaflets are most urgently needed to point 

 out the great utility of birds in the destruc- 

 tion of countless insects and small rodents, 

 and to stimulate first-hand and thorough 

 observation of their feeding-habits through- 

 out the year." 



The Board replied by citing its twenty- 

 year-old leaflets, and their new editions, 

 also certain articles on one side or the other 



which have appeared from time to time in 

 its Journal : none of these answering to 

 the requirement, except perhaps a lengthy 

 report by Professor Newstead, the conclusions 

 in which have been wholly ignored in the 

 Board's leaflets. 



In later protests, the Society drew 

 particular attention to the serious danger 

 to food-crops arising out of the employment 

 of ignorant "village children to destroy 

 birds, nestlings, and eggs, for money rewards. 

 The Board, with its unhappy knack of doing 

 things in the wrong way, replied to this 

 by a direction in one of its endless leaflets, 

 that — 



" If schoolchildren are set to work on the 

 destruction of sparrows they should not be 

 allowed to claim rewards unless the work 

 has been done under the direct supervision 

 of the schoolmaster or schoolmistress." 



Thus, at a crisis when almost every school 

 is understaffed, it proposes to occupy the 

 time of teachers in the humiliating task of 

 superintending Johnnie and Bobbie stoning, 

 catapulting, and decapitating small birds ; 

 if teachers object to such a task as upsetting 

 and counteracting their efforts to ci\alize the 

 young barbarian — 



' ' To teach your children gentleness 

 And mercy for the weak, and reverence 

 For life, which, in its weakness or excess, 

 Is still a gleam of God's omnipotence" — 



they are to incur the ill-will of Johnnie 

 (possibly that of the lower class of parents) 

 by standing between liim and his pennies ! 

 Such " supervision " given in school hours 

 would be a gross misuse of educational 

 time ; if out of them, an abuse of the 

 teacher's leisure. That the whole proposi- 

 tion is an invasion of the business of Educa- 

 tion does not appear to be resented by the 

 Board of Education, whose answers to 

 questions in the House are given on another 

 page ; and the wondering country may 

 next find the Board of Education dictating 

 the prices of potatoes and the composition 

 of dog-biscuits. Happily many Education 

 Committees have declined to countenance 

 the proposition, and many teachers are 

 declining to serve " sparrow "-clubs in or 

 out of school hours. 



The quotation which is given at the head 



