44 



Bird Notes and News 



birds and caterpillars, I am in favour of 

 encouraging the birds, which I look upon 

 as my best friends, as they are a great help 

 towards keeping maggots and caterpillars 

 down to the minimum of annoyance." 



THE RAT- WAR AND OWLS 



Writing in the Observer (July 9th, 1922), 

 Mr. H. Mortimer Batten points out that the 

 war on rats has not been altogether advan- 

 tageous to the woodlands and their denizens. 

 Rat-proof buildings and ricks, restrictions 

 as to harbouring rats, and other efforts to get 

 rid of them from buildings has driven the 

 rodents in search of new quarters in woods 

 and hedgerows, where they are very unwelcome 

 aliens. He proceeds : — 



" A short time ago I was in a small wood 

 which stands three or four miles distant from 

 the nearest farm, and I was astounded to find 

 an immense number of half-grown rats lying 

 dead every here and there among the trees. 

 Every one of them had been killed in the same 

 way, and lay decapitated, but otherwise 

 untouched. The work was clearly that of 

 Owls, and the number of Owls' feathers Ijdng 

 about furnished further proof. Let me, there- 

 fore, strongly urge that the rat war has brought 

 about increased necessity for the preservation 

 of the Owl, namely, the long-eared, brown, 

 and barn species. Keepers often shoot Owls 

 as injurious to game, but the rat invasion of 

 game coverts is far more injurious, and the 

 Brown Owl is the most assiduous of our natural 

 rat traps. All possible steps should be taken 

 to assist these birds to multiply." 



Notes 



The Oil in Navigable Waters Bill, for pre- 

 venting the discharge on the sea of oil-waste 

 from vessels using oil-fuel, received the Royal 

 Assent before the close of the Parliamentary 

 Session. As explained in the Summer Number 

 of Bird Notes and News, this is but a pre- 

 liminary step, as only the three-mile waters of 

 Admiralty jurisdiction can be dealt with ; and 

 the utmost need remains for international 

 action. Supporting the Second Reading in the 

 House of Commons, on July 5th, Sir W. 

 Mitchell-Thomson pointed out that the escape 

 was already a source of danger from fire in 

 harbours ; while in seaways and on sea beaches 

 it was a serious nuisance, and there was hardly 

 a seaside resort on the narrow waters round 

 the coast from which complaints had not been 

 received in increasing volume. The Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds had made 

 the strongest representations with regard to 

 the efiect on bird life ; the oyster fisheries were 

 menaced, and there was some fear as to efiect 

 on other fish. Sir George Renwick gave 

 instances of ships being involved in flames 

 through a match or a cinder dropped into the 

 oil round about it, and said that shipowners 

 and harbour authorities were prepared to 

 shoulder the obligations of the Bill. The 

 Second Reading was carried by 98 to 16. 



An incident recently reported by a member 

 of the R.S.P.B., usefully illustrates the 



fact too frequently overlooked by bird-lovers, 



that protests against cruelties and illegalities 



of various descriptions can often be made more 



effectually to the employers of an offender 



than to the offender himself. " Passing a 



certain lock on the Thames," he writes, " I 



noticed a Chaffinch, very wild, in a very small 



cage, and protested against its being kept in 



such conditions. The lock-keeper would not 



release it, and I wrote to the Conservancy." 



The Conservancy replied in due course that 



they had looked into the matter and the bird 



had been liberated. Similar appeals might 



often be addressed to authorities in the case 



of birds in model dwellings, factories, and so 



on, where the direct appeal proves waste of 



breath. Not all indignant observers will be 



at the trouble taken in this instance, and 



not all authorities will prove so sympathetic 



as the Thames Conservancy ; but a reasonable 



letter will generally be read : not an anonymous 



one. 



* * * 



The French Government has just made a 

 fresh order in connection with the Inter- 

 national Convention of 1902. 



" Having regard to the necessity of putting an end 

 to the barbarous practice of certain bird-catchers of 

 capturing Finches or other small birds and putting out 

 their eyes with the object of enhancing their value as 

 singing birds," 



as the preamble runs, the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture and the Minister of the Interior have made 



