Bird Notes and News 



13 



he saw interested him much : two Tawny Owls' 

 nests, each with three young, one in a nest-box 

 near the house, and the other in the church tower ; 

 two Dabchicks' nests with three and five eggs 

 respectively ; a Snipe's nest with the full clutch of 

 four eggs ; a Stock-Dove in a box which allowed us 

 to go up and look at her without leaving her nest ; 

 and a typical Nuthatch's nest in a box, made of 

 the flakes of bark from a Scotch fir. At a later 

 visit in summer a thriving colony of House-Martins 

 on the old Rectory farmhouse, where these delightful 

 little birds have nested for some fifty years past, 

 gave him great pleasure. In the following spring 

 we were able to follow up a Lesser Spotted Wood- 

 pecker, and to get a good view through field-glasses 

 of the bird in the very act of making its strange 

 jarring noise. Birds, butterflies, and flowers all 

 had their own charm for him, and his notes from 

 France printed in Bird Notes and News a few months 

 ago (p. 90) testify to the keenness and accuracy 

 of his observations. At Haileybury he gained a 

 good scholarship at Hertford College, Oxford, but 

 his military duties prevented him from going up 

 to the University." 



Mrs. John Thornely, of Esher, whose 

 death occurred in May, quickly following 

 upon that of her husband, was one of the 

 oldest members of the Society, being enrolled 

 fifteenth on the list, and had been Hon. 

 Secretary for Esher since its earhest days. 

 She became a Fellow in 1908. Mr. Thornely 

 was a constant subscriber to the Watchers 

 Fund. Both will be greatly missed. 



HEATHER-BURNING IN CLOSE-TIME. 



Last year, and again more insistently 

 this year, complaints have reached the 

 Society of the destruction of birds resulting 

 from the extension of time for heather- 

 burning. The attention of the Chairman 

 of the Scottish Board of Agriculture was 

 therefore drawn to a letter in the Scotsman, 

 May 1st, 1918, which stated that Grouse, 

 Lapwings and other birds were already 

 sitting and, refusing to leave their eggs, were 

 burnt to death on their nests. " Apart from 

 the unnecessary cruelty entailed," the writer 

 added, " there is also economic waste, for 

 Grouse make a substantial addition to our 

 national food-supply." 



" It might also be added," urged 

 the Society in its letter of j^rotest, " that 

 Lapwings' services to the farmers and to 

 the nation, as consumers of wire worm, are 

 even greater than those of Grouse as future 

 food." 



Sir Robert Wright replied : 



" The question has been frequently before the 

 Board, which has to give consideration not only 

 to the points raised in your letter, but also to the 

 representations made by farmers in the interests 

 of their sheep stocks and to the still more important 

 question at the present time, of the maintenance 

 and possible increase of the food-supply of the 

 country. 



" In giving due consideration to these interests, 

 I can assure you that the Board will not be forgetful 

 of the representation you have made in your letter." 



The Scottish Board of Agriculture can 

 be relied upon to find that the interests of 

 farmers and food-supply do not admit of 

 the roasting alive of the most valuable of 

 our birds and the destruction of their 

 incubated eggs. 



HOLIDAY TIME. 



Shortly before Whitsuntide the R.S.P.B. 

 wrote to the Board of Agriculture : 



" The Society would be glad of authority to say 

 that the Board does not authorise any general 

 destruction of Birds, nor approve infringement 

 of the general Close-time law. The Wliitsuntide 

 holiday is invariably a great time for bird- 

 persecution ; this year there is certain to be heavy 

 destruction of insectivorous birds and their nests, 

 consequent on the common understanding in 

 country districts that the Government has ' ordered ' 

 the killing of small birds and payment for heads 

 and eggs. The fact that the Board has disseminated 

 widely instructions as to the destruction of certain 

 species, and has not disseminated equally widely 

 any warning or caution against the destruction 

 of other birds, is not unnaturally read by villagers 

 and children as a direction to kill any and all." 



The reply received stated : 



" The Board will arrange to include in their 

 Weekly Service issued to the Press throughout 

 the country a statement on the lines indicated 

 in your letter." 



THE CANADIAN-U.S. TREATY. 



Dr. Hornaday writes to the R.S.P.B. from 



New York : 



" The Bill to provide for carrying into effect the 

 terms of the already complete treaty with Canada 

 for the protection of all migratory birds passed the 

 House [Congress] on June 6th, by a vote of 240 to 

 131. 



" This action disposes for ever of all question as 

 to the right of the Federal Government to take an 

 active interest in protecting the birds of the nation, 



" The Canadian half of the treaty, and its cor- 

 responding enabling Act, have been for several 

 months in active operation." 



