Bird Notes and News 



75 



schedule. But it gives reason why this 

 number should not be added to, and 

 still more reason to deplore the departure 

 made by the Act from the simple and 

 effectual lines of the Society's Bills and 

 of the Government Bill of 1914. 



>K 9|c :(( 



The second case was one of smuggling 

 pure and simple. Again at Newhaven 

 the Customs Officers, with the acumen 

 which sometimes suggests that they 

 must have mastered the secrets of 

 MaskeljTie and Devant, seized five 

 packages which professed to be crates 

 of eggs from France. Underneath the 

 eggs in each package were boxes con- 

 taining Egret plumage and Birds of 

 Paradise, liable to a fine of treble their 

 value, or over nine thousand pounds. 

 The goods were followed from Paris to 

 Soho, and the consignees, two Frenchmen, 

 were charged with the offence. When 

 told of the presence of the plumes, 

 said the Customs Inquiry Officer, they 

 expressed great surprise ; they were 

 innocent dealers in eggs, establishing 

 an innocent egg agency in London. 

 Eventually the magistrate let it go at 

 that. The plumage was confiscated ; 

 but he considered there was insufficient 

 proof that these egg-dealing Benjamins 

 had any knowledge of the valuable 

 presents which some kind Brother Joseph 

 had hidden in their sacks. 



Another interesting judgment is that 

 given at the London Sessions in a trade 

 appeal against a conviction obtained by 

 the R.S.P.C.A. for cruelty in keeping 

 wild birds confined in dirty " mouse- 

 trap " cages. It is eminently satisfactory 

 to note that the appeal was dismissed 

 with a strong comment from the Chairman 

 on the need for putting a stop once and 

 for all on to this species of inhumanity. 

 It is to be hoped that the catching and 

 caging of birds, not merely in reference 

 to times and seasons, but from the 

 humane point of view, wiU be dealt 

 with in the next Bird Protection Act. 

 To relegate the question to the Act 

 designed mainly for the protection of 



domestic animals, and leave it to the 

 personal judgment of every magistrate 

 whether the confinement of a bird of 

 the air in a cage 7 inches by 4 inches, or 

 in a cage perpetually darkened, is or 

 is not permitting " unnecessary suffering " 

 by a " wanton or unreasonable act," 

 is to derogate infinitely from the strength 

 and logic of Acts for the protection of 



birds. 



* * * 



The first monument to a Bird was 

 put up in Utah, in gratitude to the Gulls, 

 who stayed a locust plague. The second, 

 apparently, has to be credited to Germany. 

 A memorial to commemorate the services 

 of the Carrier Pigeons in the war has 

 been erected in Merseburg, Prussia. But 

 the gratitude of man cannot be reckoned 

 on by the creatures to whom he is 

 indebted. Airmen have constantly studied 

 the flight of birds in the hope of learning 

 more of the secrets of flight, and are still 

 advised to do so ; but one of the iUus- 

 trated papers tells how the " sportsmen " 

 of a Spanish aerodrome amuse themselves 

 by pursuing and shooting the Great 

 Bustard from aeroplanes. " Twenty- 

 eight Bustards were bagged in eight 

 shoots. The Premier of Spain was present 

 at the last, when six birds were brought 

 down." England exterminated its 

 Bustards long ago, or the " sport " 

 might have been enjoyed on Salisbury 



Plain. 



* * * 



Every bird-lover will sympathise deeply 

 with Mrs. G. F. Watts in the destruction 

 by fire a few weeks ago of the terra- 

 cotta potteries at Compton, while rejoic- 

 ing at the escape of the Art Galleries, 

 where so many of the great artist's 

 pictures are housed, including " The 

 Sorrowing Angel," lent for the Society's 

 Stand at Olympia last summer. The aim 

 of the industry which has given so much 

 beautiful work in British clay to the 

 world, was to develop the artist-craftsman, 

 beginning with the village lads, who 

 were eager to produce bricks of their 

 own making and decoration for the 

 Compton Memorial Chapel. The Potters' 



