Bird Notes and News 



had its severe periods, particularly in the 

 north, and it will be years before the birds 

 recover their normal status. The hope of 

 food-growers lies with such of the Thrushes 

 e.nd Warblers and other insectivorous species 

 as have survived, with the crowd of birds 

 which feed their young on insect-food ; and 

 with the summer migrants from overseas. 

 Are these allies of ours to be at the mercy 

 of the gun, snare, and trap of the ignorant, 

 in order that crops may be riddled by 

 weevils, bored into by worms, become the 

 hatching-ground of grubs, be slimed by 

 slug and snail, and have their life-juices 

 sucked by aphides ? Or are the people at 

 large to be taught the simple facts in regard 

 to- the working of nature : taught that not 

 every hole in turnip, not every bitten fruit, 

 not every blighted bud, is the work of 

 birds because birds are seen near them ; 

 but that wireworm and beetle, fly and cater- 

 pillar, of a thousand kinds are slaying the 



plant unless they themselves are slain by 

 the birds. 



Man slays the insect-destroyers and then 

 wonders at the result, said Edward Newman, 

 the eminent naturalist, years ago. And man 

 is stiU engaged on the same task and still 

 puzzled by the same results. Still he 

 energetically shoots his soldiers and his 

 pohce, and stUl he groans in perplexity over 

 the raids of the burglar and the devastation 

 wrought by the enemy. 



There is urgent need for every one who 

 understands the value of birds to become a 

 missionary to the less well-informed ; and 

 all readers of Bird Notes and News can assist 

 in enlightening ignorance, helping the food- 

 cultivator, preserving the birds, and saving 

 the nation's food, by distributing the leaflet 

 " Birds, Insects, and Crops," and by 

 circulating the new " Bird Ally " postcards 

 published by the Society. 



Notes. 



It is clearly useless to look to country magis- 

 trates to preserve the rarer birds of Britain. 

 This spring, as on previous occasions, 

 there has been a raid on Bitterns. The 

 Bittern would undoubtedly breed again in 

 many suitable places if nearly every bird 

 that comes to England was not received 

 with a charge of shot from the fool who 

 " didn't know what it was " (but has it 

 stuffed to commemorate his prowess) or 

 the knave who knows very well the value 

 of its skin. Last year the birds happilj^ 

 nested in a sanctuary well protected from 

 these gentry. At least six have been 

 reported shot within a few weeks. One was 

 in a Cambridgesliire fen, where a " sports- 

 man " seeing something unusual and 

 thinking it was " perhaps an Owl " (!) 

 duly shot it, and next proceeded to bring 

 down what he imagined " a funny duck " 

 but which turned ovit a Shag. At the 

 instance of the R.S.P.B. he was prosecuted 

 and the forfeiture of the specimen (duly 

 stuffed) strongly urged by the Society. The 

 Bench infhcted a fine of 15/- and allowed 

 the offender to keep the bird. A second case 

 was in Hampshire, where the Bench actually 

 reduced the possible fine of £1 to 2/6 and again 



allowed the law-breaker to retain his booty. 

 Of what use County Council Orders to 

 preserve these birds, if the magistrates of 

 the same county flout their enactments ? 

 Of what use the Act of 1902, passed especially 

 to ensure that those who destroy rare birds 

 shall not profit on the transaction by 

 retaining their spoils, if it is systematically 



ignored ? 



^ * ♦ 



Here is another case. The Rev. T. F. 

 Royds, B.D., writes to Bird Notes and News 

 from Tusliingham, Shropshire : 



" A friend of mine found a dead Bittern 

 hanging up in a farmhouse near here last 

 week. The man who had shot it did not 

 know what it was. What are you to do 

 with such people ? It would be interesting 

 to know how many rare birds are shot in 

 this kind of way and never recorded." 



A further instance of Bittern-shooting in 

 the same county has since been reported 

 in the Shooting Times, another in Berkshire, 

 and a third in a locahty uimamed but 

 apparently also Berks. " Something ought 

 to be done to stop this rutliless slaughter," 



