Bird Notes and News 



79 



Every year there are a large number of 

 interesting little notes of things seen by Bird 

 and Tree Cadets. Here are a few from the 

 papers for 1922 : — 



Wren's nest made of hornbeam catkins. 



Moorhen's eggs in nest of Woodpigeon, 



Tits taking possession of House-Martin's nest. 



Wren's nest in House-Martin's. 



Kestrel following the plough for grubs. 



Starling laying egg in nest occupied by Swallows. 



Tits trying to catch frog-spawn in stream. 



Young Willow-Wrens fed with green caterpillars. 



Cuckoo's eggs in nests of Robin and Meadow Pipit. 



Young Cuckoo fed by Sedge- Warblers. 



Seven different bushes growing out of old Willow. 



Local notes on the uses of wood are often 

 noteworthy, such as that on the preference for 

 Copper Beech in the making of bobbins ; but 

 the tree which arouses the greatest enthusiasm 

 (even more than the Walnut with its fascinating 



stain) is the Elder. Elderberry wine is clearly 

 not out of fashion, nor is elder-flower water, 

 while the juice will also " dye your hair lovely," 

 and one young writer of 11, who must have 

 studied an old herbal, says : — 



" It possesses neither beauty nor fragrance, but it 

 is very good for some medicinal purposes, such as 

 aches and shrunken sinews. The young buds mixed 

 with butter is excellent for aches. The ointment 

 obtained from my tree, elderflower tea, and elderberry 

 wine are equal to most medicines. The berries make 

 excellent wine and some people say that elderberry 

 vinegar is excellent for colds. When its fruit is 

 boiled it loses its sickly taste. Elderberries are said 

 to be one of the engrediments of port wine. The old 

 branches make skewers for butchers. Its berries are 

 used for dye in Scotland. They are selected as soon as 

 they are deep green and are used for both fomentations 

 and cataplasms wounds. They are a cure for inflam- 

 mation. They serve to make pickles of a very good 

 flavour. Spirit is drawn from my tree's bark." 



In the Courts 



The Sale of Protected Birds. — At Win- 

 chester, on March 2nd, Mr. Charles Bunker, 

 poulterer, was summoned for exposing Green 

 Plover for sale contrary to the Hampshire 

 Bird Protection Order, which protects the bird 

 all the year with a maximum fine of £1 for 

 each one ofiered. Accused stated that three 

 Plovers were purchased with a number of 

 Pigeons, and hung up for sale, and he was 

 ignorant of the existence of any law on the 

 subject. A fine of 10s. in each case, with one 

 guinea costs, was imposed. — At the County 

 Police Bench, on the same day, a man named 

 Neaves was convicted of shooting the birds at 

 King's Worthy, but was let ofi with a payment 

 of costs. He said he was out pigeon-shooting 

 and did not kill the Lapwings intentionally. 



The Birdcatcher. — At Epsom, on February 

 12th, William Giles, Joseph Porter and 

 Nathaniel Burfield were fined for being in 

 possession of five recently taken Chaffinches, 

 and for causing them unnecessary suffering. 

 The men were seen by the police at Bookham 

 Station with bird-catching paraphernalia, and 

 were followed. They got out at Leatherhead, 

 but at Waterloo the birds were found under 

 the carriage seat, in a cotton bag, one of them 

 dead and two others unable to fly. — At the 

 same Court, on February 19th, Henry Coverton, 

 of Bethnal Green, was ordered to pay costs 

 for using birdlime and a decoy bird at Ewell. 

 The bird, etc., were forfeited. — In a case at 

 Stratford (Essex) a mistake was made in pro- 

 ceeding against F. T. Nightingale for taking 

 wild birds instead of for cruelty to decoy 



birds, but the Bench ordered the birds to be 

 liberated. 



The Small-Cage Evil : Appeal Case — An 

 appeal case of some importance was decided 

 at the London Sessions, on March 9th, in favour 

 of the R.S.P.C.A. Two Inspectors of the 

 Society found a number of Chaffinches in 

 very small cages, some of which measured 4 

 inches wide back to front, 6^ inches long, and 

 7| inches high. The cages were very dirty. 

 The Society took proceedings on the ground 

 that the birds were caused suffering. The 

 London Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. Cairns, 

 convicted and fined the defendant (Thomas 

 Mills) £5 and £2 2s. costs. Against this con- 

 viction the defendant appealed. The Society 

 called a number of expert witnesses, including 

 Mr. Seth-Smith, Curator at the Zoological Gar- 

 dens, and Mr. W. P. Pycraft, Assistant Keeper 

 at the British Museum (Natural History), 

 who stated that the birds had no possi- 

 bility of exercise and that it was practically 

 impossible to keep such small cages clean ; 

 birds in their wild state were scrupulously 

 clean, and it caused them extreme discomfort 

 and suffering if they were not able to keep 

 themselves so. In dismissing the appeal with 

 costs the Chairman (Mr. A. J. Lawrie) said : — 

 " The Justices are satisfied these birds were 

 kept in a dirty state and the cages were too 

 small. To keep birds in cages of that size is in 

 our opinion causing unnecessary suffering. 

 If it is the practice (as we are informed it is) 

 to keep the birds in these small cages for the 

 purpose of making them sing then the sooner 

 the practice is stopped the better." 



