28 



Bird Notes and News 



The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 



COUNCIL MEETINGS. 



MEETEsrGS of the Council of the Society were 

 held at the Guildhall, Westminster, on 

 October 18th and December 6th, 1918. 



The Hon. Secretary's Reports gave par- 

 ticulars of the awards in the Bird and Tree 

 Challenge Shield Competitions and the Boy 

 Scouts Competition ; stated that lectures 

 had been given by the Rev. J. E. KelsaU 

 at Hospitals and Schools and to Boy Scouts ; 

 by Mr. W. Wailes Strang at Keswick ; Mr. 

 Masefield, Mr. Harford J. Lowe, Mr. Vicars 

 Webb, Mr. H. C. Metcalfe, the Rev. B. T. 

 Verry, and Miss E. Goodyear ; and that a 

 new Bird Protection Order had been issued 

 for Tipperary. Votes of thanks were passed 

 to Mr. Thorburn for again presenting the 

 Society wth a painting for its Christmas 

 card, and to the Judges of Essays in the 

 Competitions. 



The Finance and General Purposes Com- 

 mittee reported that the late Lieut. C. C. 

 Baring had bequeathed a gift of £5 to the 

 Society, and that a legacy of £100, duty 

 free, had been left to it by the late Captain 

 Sydney Edward Brock, of Overton,Kirkliston, 

 Mrs. Fuller Maitland had succeeded Mrs. 

 Yorke Smith as Hon. Secretary for Sidmouth, 

 and Miss Kathleen Tardif was appointed for 

 Guernsey. The following Fellows and Mem- 

 bers were elected : — 



Fellows: Miss Alice M. Christian, Miss 

 Agnes M. Christian, F. R. Davenport, Mrs. Hugh 

 Fitton, Miss Gilbert, T. R. Gleghorn, Mrs. 

 Johnston, Miss Violet Partington, F. J. S. 

 Pollard. 



Members: Mrs. Adamson, Mrs. W. R. Ander- 

 son, Colonel the Hon. J. Pleydell-Bouverie, Hon. 

 Mrs. Pleydell-Bouverie, Lieut. A. B. Burrowes, 

 Miss Butler, Miss F. E. Chambers, Mrs. A. W. 

 Childs, Mrs. Chichester, R. Edward Coles, E. 

 Harker Curtis, Mrs. Cuthbertson, Miss L. G. 

 Davenport, Mrs. Gaskoin, P. F. Green, Mrs. 

 Hearn, Mrs. Heseltine, Miss Leng, Miss Minnie 

 Leng, S. LI. Lloyd, Lady Lockyer, Captain H. 

 L. Long, H. J. Massingham, Mrs. Massingham, 

 Mrs. Morrison, E. Moxsom, Miss E. L. Record, 

 Miss Cicely Riddock, Miss F. Stevenson, Miss 

 J. B. Stothart, Hugh Boyd Watt, Miss Celia 

 Wray. 



Life Member: Miss Violet E. Gordon. 



Letters were read from IVIr. W. P. Pycraft 

 and Mr. A. H. E, Mattingley (Australian 



Ornithologists' Union) respecting the de- 

 struction of Penguins for the oil industry on 

 Macquarie Island ; and the Society's action 

 was discussed. The present position with 

 regard to the plumage question, the economic 

 status of birds, and other matters were 

 considered ; and it was decided, mter alia, 

 that efforts should be made for the better 

 protection of the Green Plover. 



OBITUARY. 



Members of the Society and others interested 

 in the anti -plumage campaign will sym- 

 pathise deeply with Mr. James Buckland 

 in the loss of his wife, who died on December 

 3rd. Li his devoted and passionate work 

 on behalf of the protection of birds Mrs. 

 Buckland was a zealous co-operator. 



PENGUIN-OIL. 



For many years the Society has called 

 attention to this trade, and endeavoured to 

 obtain repressive measures from the Govern- 

 ments of Tasmania and New Zealand. A 

 fresh protest was raised in the Illustrated 

 London News last February by Mr. Pycraft. 

 Macquarie Island has been leased for some 

 twenty years by the Tasmanian Government 

 to ]Mr. Joseph Hatch, representing a company 

 in New Zealand trading in penguin-oil and 

 sea-elephant oil. According to statements 

 made by ]\Ir. Hatch in a lecture at Melbourne 

 on July 8th, 1918, some 1,500,000 year-old 

 Royal Penguins are killed every year and 

 boiled dowai in huge digestors solely for their 

 oil. IVIr. Hatch denied that anj^i-hing more 

 than " necessary cruelty " occurred, the 

 birds being clubbed to death with heavy 

 sticks ; and he asserted that the Penguins 

 remained as numerous as ever. 



Thorough investigation by a competent 

 authority is urgently called for in the 

 interests both of science and of humanity. 

 The R.S.P.B. cabled a request to the Acting 

 Prime Minister of Australia to allow Mr. 

 Mattingley to proceed to Macquarie, but 

 Mr. Mattingley 's war-time work in the Board 

 of Trade was considered too important to 

 allow of this. 



