Bird Notes and News 



9 



for the year 1921. The resignation of Miss 

 Gladys Norman as Hon. Secretary for Cam- 

 berley, on her leaving the neighbourhood, was 

 accepted with regret ; Mrs. Edward Clodd was 

 appointed Hon. Secretary for Aldeburgh and 

 district. The following Fellows and Members 

 were elected : — 



Fellows. — Mrs. Borradaile, Miss R. Crawshay, 

 Mrs. Flugel, Henry C. Halclane, Mrs. Alice Hall, A. 

 Bethune Morgan, Mrs. H, H. Phelps, Mrs. Lionel 

 Fox Pitt, Miss Annie A. Robinson. 



Life Fellow : Charles E. Alford. 



Members : The Marquess and Marchioness of 

 Aberdeen and Temair, J. S. H. Borough, Miss E. H. 

 Borough, James Bell, Miss Bray, Arthur Carrall, Mrs. 

 Arthur Carrall, Alfred Clarke, Miss Florence Coombe, 

 Lieut. H. B. Cott, J. H. Crow, Miss Currie, Robert 

 Deakin, Miss Jessie Donald, W. Fox, G. G. T. Giles, 

 Mrs. A. Gordon, Roy Hobkirk, Mrs. Jackson, B, B. 

 Knight, Mrs. John Law, Miss A, Linsell, Mrs. Mac- 

 Alister, Mrs. McDouall, W. C. L. Matthews, Miss 

 M. E. Oliver, Miss Mary N. Paley, Mrs. Payton, A. V. 

 Prior, iilisB Y. G. Raymond, C. Robertson, Mrs. Row- 

 lands, Mrs. F. H. Sampson, Miss Mary Sampson, 

 Miss Marjorie Sampson, Mrs. J. A. Shaw, John R. 

 Stevens, Mrs. Hedley Thomson, D. W. Turner, Miss 

 W. W. Twining, William Wainwright, jun.. Miss 

 Doris Westwood, C. A. White, Lady Ethel Wickham. 



Life Member : Leonard C. E. Currie. 



With regard to the Plumage Act, three 

 meetings of the Board of Trade Advisory 

 Committee had been held, the Marquess of 

 Crewe presiding, and results were generally 

 understood to be satisfactory to Bird-Pro- 

 tectors. Numerous letters on the subject 

 had been received, including one from Mr. 

 J. C. Moulton, of the Raffles Museum, Singa- 

 pore; and Heer F. E. Blaauw, C.M.Z.S., had 

 written as follows from Graveland, Holland : — 



" For ever and again, as is stated in your 

 Winter Number (1921) of Bird Notes and 

 News, the story is put forward of shed plumage 

 of Egrets being sold. I have in my Park a 

 large colony of Herons, several hundreds of 

 nests, and it would be impossible for me to 

 collect enough moulted feathers of those birds 

 during a whole season to adorn (?) two or three 

 ladies' hats. 



" I don't believe a word of the story that the 

 Egret feathers that come from Venezuela have 

 come from moulting birds. Moulted feathers 

 of wild birds are shed here and there, and are not 

 to be found in any numbers in one particular 

 place. I do not doubt for one moment that the 

 Venezuela feathers come from slaughtered 

 birds." 



Among other subjects discussed were the 

 arrangements for Competitions in 1922, Bird 

 Protection in the Scilly Islands, and the de- 

 struction of sea-birds through the discharge of 

 waste petrol into the sea. 



A Special Meeting of the Council was held 

 on March 3rd, mainly to consider the financial 

 needs of the Society, and means to be adopted 

 to obtain increased funds for the development 

 of the work in many directions where it is 

 greatly needed and where it could be under- 

 taken if sufficient support was assured. 



BEQUEST TO THE WATCHERS' FUND 



The late Dr. Reginald W. S. Bishop, of 

 West Canfield, near Ripon, who died on 

 December 31st, 1921, has left a legacy of 

 £1,000 for the Watchers' Fund of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds, to take 

 efiect after the death of his wife, to whom he 

 leaves all his property for life. Dr. Bishop 

 took the keenest interest in the Society's 

 work, and was elected a Life Fellow in 1920. 

 He has left material for a book on his experiences 

 as a moorland doctor. 



THE ARGYLLSHIRE VERMIN CLUB 



The following letter, signed by the Chairman 

 and Hon. Secretary of the R.S.P.B., appears 

 in the Times of March 4th, 1922 :— 



" The attention of the Council of the Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds has repeatedly been drawn 

 to an account in the Field of December 10th of last 

 year's activities of the Argyllshire Vermin Club. 

 WTiilst appreciating the necessity of keeping down 

 the numbers of predatory beasts and birds in the 

 interest of creatures necessary for the support of 

 man, we fear that such wholesale destruction as that 

 described may have disastrous effect on the avi-fauna 

 of the British Isles. 



" It is the killing of 160 buzzards and 475 hawks 

 which arouses our anxiety ; also among the 

 ' unnamed ' we cannot help suspecting that there 

 are species which it has been the persistent endeavour 

 during the past half-century of naturalists and 

 ornithologists to protect. We also fear that in order 

 to accomplish so much the killing may to some extent 

 have been done by pole-traps and poison, the use of 

 both being illegal. In addition to their illegality, 

 the use of such instruments is to be deplored, both on 

 account of the cruel sufferings which they inflict on 

 their victims and because of their indiscriminate 

 action. 



" We earnestly hope that the executive officers 

 of the vermin clubs of Scotland will see their way to 

 draw up and enforce strict rules which will effectually 

 prevent indiscriminate slaughter, and which will 

 forbid the killing of interesting and rare birds, such as 



