Bird Notes and News 



95 



A Hampshire Teacher writes : — 



" I showed our books, medals, etc, to our new 

 Inspector and he was very much interested. He knows 

 a great deal about birds and was so pleased to find a 

 Wagtail sitting on six eggs in the boys' playground. 

 Now the girls have two Linnets and a Thrush sitting 

 in their playground, and the boys have a Goldfinch 

 and a Great Tit. They had a successful brood two 

 years ago. About six longtailod Tits' nests have been 

 found in the fields round about this year. This place 

 is full of nests and hardly any get taken. But the 

 young birds fare badly ; the Rooks are blamed for 

 taking them, but it may be the Little Owl — we have 

 a good many of them about. One of my boys knows 



a Kingfisher's nest with eggs. He did know a Snipes' 

 nest, but it was near another village and got taken. 

 We have a hen Chaffinch with an injured wing in the 

 School just now. She is getting very perky and 

 beginning to talk to me, but cannot fly yet. I never 

 let sick birds go till they can fly out of the windows 

 (or, better still, the ventilators, which are higher), for 

 then I know they will be safe from cats. They always 

 run about the School, and we just keep the doors shut. 

 They grow tame very quickly. It is wonderful how 

 soon they get to understand us and trust us. 



This is clearly a model Bird and Tree School. 

 How many others can give as good a list of 

 nests round about the schoolhouse ? 



In the Courts 



The Caged Bird : Magistrate's Comment. — 

 At Old Street (London), on April 16th, a bird- 

 dealer was summoned for having in his posses- 

 sion 29 Linnets, recently taken, and with 

 omitting to give them proper care and attention. 

 The man had 16 birds in a cage measuring 

 11| in. by 6J in. by 21 in. Mr. Clarke Hall, 

 the magistrate, said that by the Wild Birds 

 Protection Act all that he could do for a first 

 ofience was to administer a reprimand. He felt 

 it was disgraceful that in the streets of London 

 birds should be kept in small cages beating 

 against the bars. He had reprimanded the 

 man, but he did not suppose it would have the 

 slightest effect. In addition, he ordered the 

 payment of five guineas costs. 



A similar case was heard in the North London 

 Court on May 4th, when John Parish, of 

 Holloway Road, was fined 203. with two 

 guineas costs for causing unnecessary suffering 

 to birds on his premises. He had five Chaf- 

 finches, a Goldfinch, 15 Linnets, three Green- 

 finches, and three Yellowhammers ; the largest 

 cage was 8 by 7 by 5 in., and the smallest 

 7 by 7 by 5 in. All the birds had torn wing 

 feathers, and two had no tails at all. On a 

 further count of possessing newly caught birds, 

 the magistrate said he was not satisfied as to 

 the recent taking. There was, however, evi- 

 dence that they had been kept too long in the 

 small cages. The wonder was that thousands 

 of people would stare in bird-shops and watch 

 wild birds confined in such cages without it 

 conveying anything to their intelligence. 



At Liverpool, on May 3rd, William Henderson 

 was fined 40s. in the case of a Linnet, said to 

 be so clogged with dirt and so exhausted that 

 it fell from its perch to the bottom of the cage. 

 Defendant said it was moulting. 



A Warning to Rooks. — At Hull, on April 

 10th, George Richman, market gardener, was 



fined £2 for cruelty to a Rook. After shooting 

 the bird he tethered it in a maimed condition 

 to a stake in the ground for three days in order 

 to scare other Rooks. 



Birdnesting on Wimbledon Common. — At 

 Wimbledon, on May 30th, five boys were 

 summoned for taking birds' eggs on Wimbledon 

 Common, where all birdnesting is prohibited 

 under the Wimbledon and Putney Commons 

 Bye-laws ; and a sixth for taking a nest of 

 young Blackbirds. The prosecutions were 

 brought about by the Head Keeper, as a warning 

 to boys frequenting the Common who, through 

 mere destructiveness or under the plea of 

 " nature study," diminish one of the charms of 

 the place and break the law. Being a first 

 conviction the lads were ordered to pay 48. 

 costs each, and the Chairman expressed the 

 hope that bills issued by the Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds, warning people 

 against the illegal taking of eggs and birds, 

 would be displayed in all schools. 



The Lapwing. — At Edinburgh, on May 7th, 

 a payment of £1 was ordered in a case of 

 taking a Lapwing's egg despite the display of 

 many prohibitive notices posted throughout the 

 district. 



" Recently Taken." — At Belfast, on March 

 29th, a dealer was charged by the Ulster 

 S.P.C.A. with having 13 newly taken Linnets 

 in his possession. Defendant received the birds 

 from Ballymena on March 16th, when they 

 were seen, and appeared absolutely wild. 

 Defendant put in a letter from the catcher 

 stating that he caught them before Christmas, 

 and the Bench dismissed the case, saying that 

 the Society had achieved its object in having 

 the matter brought before the public. (The 

 chief object achieved is in showing how useless 

 are the efforts of bird-protectors while the words 

 *' recently taken " remain on the Statute-book.) 



