Bird Notes and News 



46 



this practice illegal, and further ordain that all 

 small birds kept in cages by permit of the 

 Prefect, may be so kept solely on condition 

 that they are not blinded. It may startle 

 some people that such a horrible barbarity 

 should survive to the present day. A good 

 many things are also still tolerated in England 

 that startle the public, at least for an hour 



or two. 



* * ♦ 



The general ignorance existing regarding 

 Birds and their protection was recently 

 illustrated by a case heard before the Keswick 

 Bench, and some newspaper comments upon it. 

 As related on page 48, an hotel servant was 

 summoned for prodding down Martins' nests, 

 so that five nestlings were thrown on the 

 pavement below and killed. (They were per- 

 sistently called " Swallows," but that is a 

 minor matter.) The writer, who comments 

 inconsequently on the case, is only aware that 

 Thrushes have attacked his pear-tree, that 

 Sparrows commit depredations " on every kind 

 of growing stuff," and that " the feathered 

 tenants in the eaves and spouts are at 

 liberty to spoil clothing, disfigure property, 

 and generally make themselves unmitigated 

 nuisances." Swallows or Martins or Sparrows, 

 all are alike to this aviphobist, dangerous to 

 clothes and pear-trees, existing in " thousands, 

 each capable of carrying on the mischief- 

 making work," and the case " shows the law 

 to be even more wild than the birds." The 

 Westmorland County Council, who have wisely 

 extended protection to the invaluable and 

 beautiful Swallow tribe, may thank the 

 journalist for his compliment, and wish him a 

 little more ornithological knowledge. 



Two very pleasant donations to the Society's 

 funds have come from youthful friends of the 

 birds lately. One is a subscription to the 

 Hut Fund (Hermaness) from ten smaU girls of 

 a Sunday School class, who read the story of 

 H. Edmundson and his birds in a Church 

 magazine. The other is a gift of 25s. to Brean 

 Down Bird Sanctuary from " Messrs. Chirrup 

 and Tweet," under which name a little damsel 

 held a sale of cakes and sweets, " all profits 

 allocated to eminent excellent objects." The 

 profits being chiefly in farthings — as the Right 

 Hon. W. H. Smith used to say was the case 

 with the fortune he accumulated from railway 

 station bookstalls — the young manageress 

 evidently understands business. 



The new Hut on Hermaness is a great success, 

 and well appreciated by the Watcher who 

 occupies it. Compared with the old one it is 

 a handsome erection. The special fund, how- 

 ever, was considerably short of meeting the 

 cost. The Watchers' Committee have also to 

 look forward to heavy outlay on replacing the 

 bird-rests at the Caskets Lighthouse, which were 

 fast rotting. The Caskets was one of the 

 Lighthouses first provided with perches for 

 migrants, and these have served for the spring 

 and autumn migrations of nine years ; so that 

 they have lasted well. As these expenses 

 come quickly on the renewal of the perches at 

 Spurn, and as expenditure on the ordinary 

 Watchers' work is constantly increasing, it is 

 feared that Bardsey Lighthouse must wait 

 some time longer. 



Writing in Dr. Graham Renshaw's magazine, 

 " Natureland " (Bridge House, Sale, Man- 

 chester), Mr. E. M. Nicholson notes that even 

 yet the Longtailed Tit has not fully recovered 

 from the severe winter of 1916-17. " Throstle, 

 Blackbird, and Starling recovered amazingly 

 fast ; Green Woodpecker, Stonechat, and 

 others are still recovering ; while the Gold- 

 crest's tiny song falls once more in a cascade 

 of delicate drops from yews and fir trees. But 

 the Longtailed Tit is still in single families 

 where there used to be flocks ; a brood of from 

 seven to fourteen, sometimes twice in a season, 

 seems to have utterly failed to restore it to its 

 pre-frost condition." Unfortunately, he does 

 not mention the district of which he writes. 

 In the same number is an article on " Animal 

 Associations," by Mr. G. T. Rope, to which 

 most observers could add instances. The use 

 by birds of the old nests of other species is 

 probably a good deal more common than is 

 generally supposed. 



Mr. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, traveller, poet, 

 and politician, was best known to the public 

 as an anti-British revolutionary while a close 

 friend of statesmen of all views, as the writer 

 of some amazingly candid diaries pubUshed in 

 1919, and as a breeder of Arab horses. But 

 his sympathies with humanitarian effort were 

 broad and deep, and are strikingly set forth in 

 his poem " Satan Absolved : A Victorian 

 Mystery " (1899), in which he reviews the 



