26 



Bird Notes and News 



" At a recent meeting of the British Ornith- 

 ologists Club there were exhibited no fewer 

 than 250 clutches of Tree Pipit's eggs. In 

 addition to these, a member also exhibited a 

 series of 48 clutches of Tree Pipit's eggs from 

 his collection of about 500 self-taken sets. At 

 the same meeting there was exhibited a clutch 

 of six eggs of the Grey-headed Wagtail, taken 

 in Kent— the first record of this bird breeding 

 in the British Isles. Not only were the eggs 

 taken, but both the parent birds were killed. 

 So far, the study of the variation of eggs has 

 not led to any noticeable advancement of 

 knowledge, nor does the investigation call for 

 the wholesale taking of complete clutches of 

 eggs." 



On this the Dundee Advertiser comments :— 



" The truth, long known to ornithologists, 

 is that the most poisonous enemies of bird life 

 belong to professing members of their own class 



— the collectors. Whether the object of collec- 

 tion be skins or eggs, the effect is equally 

 malign, for the interest of the collector concen- 

 trates with the true collector's mania on the 

 rarer birds. If a new bird is showing a dis- 

 position to join the British avi-fauna, he is in- 

 stantly after it and its nest, making sure that 

 the settlement shall not take place. If an old 

 inhabitant is becoming scarce, he concentrates 

 upon it, and would joyfully carry away its eggs 

 if he knew that in doing so he was ensuring its 

 extermination. Most baneful of this baneful 

 breed are the collectors who collect an unlimited 

 number of sets of the eggs of particular birds, 

 with the profession that they are students 

 studying the variations of markings. . . . The 

 damage done by the pretentious and often pre- 

 tended scientific collector is such that proposals 

 for legislation forbidding the holding of all 

 private collections of British birds and their 

 eggs are well entitled to consideration." 



Visit of Mr. Gilbert Pearson 



Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the 

 National Association of Audubon Societies of 

 America, paid his first visit to England in 

 May and June of the present year, and on 

 June 9th was the guest of the Council of the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at a 

 reception held (by kind permission) at the 

 Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, The 

 previous days he had spent in Holland, visiting 

 the Island of Texel, and in the early part of his 

 stay in England had paid flying visits to the 

 Norfolk Broads, Selborne, and other centres of 

 bird life, seeing and hearing Robin and Cuckoo 

 for the first time at Richmond Park, hearing 

 Bittern and Snipe in East Anglia, coming 

 across the stronghold of the Stone Curlew in 

 Norfolk, and making acquaintance with many 

 typical species of the avi-fauna of woodland, 

 broad, river and heath. Needless to say, his 

 attention was drawn especially to the Nightin- 

 gale, and he was particularly attracted by the 

 Tree Pipit. Many of our birds he had, however, 

 already seen in France. 



A large number of Fellows and Members of 

 the R.S.P.B. were invited to meet Mr. Pearson 

 at the Gardens, though unavoidable short 

 notice and the numerous engagements of the 

 season prevented many from being present. 

 The guest of the afternoon was received by 

 Earl Buxton (Hon. Treasurer), Sir Montagu 

 Sharpe, K.O. (Chairman of Council), and Mr. 



F. E. Lemon (Hon. Secretary) ; other members 

 of the Council to welcome Mr. Pearson being 

 the Hon. Mrs. Henniker, Hon. Mrs. Drewitt and 

 Dr. Drewitt, Mrs. F. E. Lemon, Miss Clifton, 

 Miss Pollock, Mr. Meade- Waldo, Mr. Ernest 

 Bell, Dr. Philip Gosse, Mr. J. Rudge Harding, 

 Mr. J. R. B. Masefield, Mr. W. P. Pycraft, and 

 Mr. Hugh F. Spender. Among those also 

 present were the Duchess of Somerset, the 

 Countess Buxton, Lady Sharpe, Lady Lockyer, 

 Lady RoUeston, General Sir Charles Ryan, 

 Colonel Meinertzhagen, Mrs. Creighton, Miss 

 Leigh Browne, Mrs. Stafford Charles, Mrs. 

 Edward Clodd, Mrs. Walter Greg, Mrs. Murray- 

 Smith, Mrs. Reginald McKenna, Rev. A. 

 Linzee Giles, Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, Mr. 

 E. F. Benson, Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, Mr. 

 H. M. Richards, Miss Canziani, Miss M. Best, 

 Mr. D. Seth-Smith, Mr. F. W. Frohawk, Mr. 

 Roland Green, and many others. 



After tea in the new pavilion a meeting was 

 held in the Lecture Hall, when a delightful 

 address, as stimulating as it was informing, 

 and as sympathetic as vigorous, was given by 

 Mr. Pearson on " The Conservation of Bird 

 Life in America." Connected from its early 

 days with the work of the great American 

 Society — the largest Bird Protection Society 

 in the world — first as Secretary for Carolina 

 and Representative on the Advisory Council, 

 then as Secretary of the Association, as Acting 



