Bird Notes and News 



127 



selected, only the Chnffiiich aj)pcarin,a more frequently. 

 The best paper on the bird comes from the Victoria 

 School Wellingborough, which is winner of the Second 

 Prize. Greatworth is an excellent third. 



SOMERSET 



Challenge Shield — Lovington C.E. 



Here we have a new School accomplishing the 

 unusual feat of winning the Shield in the first year 

 it enters. The essays are good, straightforward, 

 personal studies, with excellent subjects. It may 

 be trusted that the success will not discourage them 

 from doing still better next time, for there are a number 

 of other new competitors, as well as old-established 

 ones, who may well overtake them another year : 

 Wineham, for instance, which Ls a close second, 

 Widcombe, Oake, and North and South Perrott. It 

 is pleasant to find a notable increase in the Somerset 

 comi)ctitors. 



WARWICKSHIRE 



Challenge Shield — Stirchley Street Boys, Birmingham 



The little group of Schools under the Birmingham 

 Authority have already done some excellent work, 

 and this year one of them wins the Shield away from 

 the Schools of the County. The boj's display close 

 and keen observation. Leicester Road C. School, 

 Bedworth, however, again write capital papers, 

 intelligent and sympathetic as ever, and take Second 

 Prize. Rugby (Wood Street) Girls contribute an 

 admirable set. and, like the Solihull Girls, have 

 evidently enjoyed the work. 



OPEN CLASS 



First Prize— Totley C.E, 



There are a large number of entries in the Open 

 Class this year, representing nine different counties. 

 Several of these counties may be confidently expected 

 to increase the number of their competitors and claim 

 a Shield in the near future, notably Surrey, Suffolk, 

 and Cornwall. Felixstowe Ferry, a constant worker, 

 is given Second place, but there are some capital 

 papers from a large number of Schools, the class being 

 a much stronger one than in any previous year. 



INTER-COUNTY COMPETITION 



Challenge Shield — Newburgh C.E. School, Lancashire 



Eleven Schools were eligible for tliis Competition — 

 the winners of the County Shields and the Lancashire 

 Champion School, Newburgh. Capital work is sent 

 in by all, and Newburgh is finally adjudged the winner. 

 Its papers are excellent and the drawings specially 

 good. There are errors in the natural history, the 

 worst being that of including grain in the food of the 

 Lapwing, but the root of the matter is contained in 

 this School's enthusiastic and painstaking observations, 

 and Newburgh has once again to be cordially con- 

 gratulated. The Second Prize is taken by Bracon 

 Ash (Norfolk), and the Third place is given to Durley 

 (Hampshire), where the average age of the Cadets 

 is younger than in any of the other Teams. 



County Beports and criticisms on the Essays from 

 each competing School will be foncarded to Competitors 

 in dufi course. 



From Correspondents 



THE SWALLOWS 



It is obvious that the number of swallows 

 which return to a given area will largely 

 depend on the number which is permitted 

 to breed there, and one of the causes which 

 tend to a shortage of these birds is the inhospit- 

 able treatment which they too often receive 

 from thoughtless and cruel people who destroy 

 their nests. 



I have observed that it is the custom in 

 many places to break down the nests of the 

 Swallows and Martins, often after the young 

 are hatched, and such persistent destruction 

 must have the effect of greatly lessening the 

 number of birds in any district where it is 

 practised. As a case in point, last summer 

 I notpced that the Headquarters of the National 

 Rifle Association at Bisley Camp had been 

 chosen by House-Martins as a desirable building 

 on which to hang their procreant cradles, 

 but nearly all had been destroyed ; the numerous 

 fragments adhering to the eaves showed how 

 many fruitless attempts to found a colony 

 had been made. The camp swarms with flies, 

 and the presence of the birds would be most 

 beneficial, but they are discouraged, whereas 

 if their nests were spared they would the next 

 year be enabled to take possession of them 

 at once, and thus expedite their domestic 

 arrangements. 



This summer, in Cornwall, I have deplored 

 the same senseless destruction. Old houses, 

 inns particularly, which I remember as a boy 

 were graced by rows of Swallows' nests, arc 

 now bare. 



It is the same in Sussex villages. Brambcr 

 used to be populous with Swallows and Martins, 

 but the nests are now few and far between. 



Remonstrances are met by the reply, '" Oh ! 

 they make such a mess " ; but imless the nests 

 are built directly over a window the droppings 

 from the young birds fall on the ground and 

 are quite inoffensive. 



Surely everyone should afford a welcome 

 to our spring visitors ; they ask us for nothing, 

 they find their own food — greatly to our advan- 

 tage ; they are their own architects and will, 

 if permitted, provide their own dwellings. 

 Why should we destroy these monuments of 

 patient industry, and inflict a house shortage 

 on the little builders ? It is a condition the 

 hardship of which we know. — Edgar Syers. 



