38 



Bird Notes and News 



Notes. 



Whatever be the attitude towards undesir- 

 able human aliens, there is little doubt about 

 that towards harmless and beautiful bird- 

 foreigners. Among the trophies recently 

 recorded are a Waxwing in Northumberland 

 and a Roller in Hampshire. It is the more 

 satisfactory to hear from Dr. Arnold H. 

 Mathew that a rarer visitor, the Meadow- 

 Bunting, nested last year in Kent. The eggs 

 from three nests disappeared, but two 

 nestlings were safely reared in a fourth. 



Larger and therefore more conspicuous 

 visitors, however, seldom have a chance of 

 escaping the murderous collector ; and the 

 Field records the killing of a Spoonbill at 

 Beaulieu last December, with the interest- 

 ing and suggestive comment that thirteen 

 Spoonbills have been previously recorded in 

 Hampshire, of which eight were shot. In 

 the other instances guns were possibly not 

 at hand, for the feeling for the stranger 

 in the land is still largely that of a corre- 

 spondent in a current ornithological journal : 

 " My attention was called to a peculiar bird. 

 . . . I took my gun and went out . . . 

 successfully stalked and killed it." As the 

 Spoonbill is a scheduled bird protected all 

 the year in Hampshire, it may be hoped the 

 law will step in and hand over the " artistic- 

 ally preserved " specimen to a local museum, 

 with a label recounting the manner in which 

 it came there. 



M. Henri Lavedan, whose sympathetic 

 plea for the caged bird, appearing in this 

 number, has all the vivid charm (even in 

 translation) of his nation's eloquence, is not 

 pre-eminently a Bird Protector. His interest 

 is claimed even more by those other " caged 

 birds," the child-sufferers from tuberculosis 

 " enfermes dans les cages do platre et de 

 bois," and by an excellent institution for 

 their relief, " Les Petits Lits Blancs," of 

 which Madame Lavedan is president. Per- 

 haps some bird-lovers, grateful for M. Lave- 

 dan's appeal for the birds, may like to show 

 their appreciation by helping this seaside 

 home for little French children. 



Reports from various districts show that 

 many species of small birds had by no means 

 recovered in numbers from the effects of 

 two hard winters and the Board of Agri- 

 culture, when the winter of 1918-19 set in. 

 Certain other species, notably Jays, have 

 increased. Whether this is owing to the 

 absence of gamekeepers or to an influx from 

 the Continent seems uncertain, but the result 

 is that while four years ago a demand went 

 forth for the destruction of small birds, there 

 is now from the same quarters an outcry 

 against the Hawk and Crow tribes on the 

 ground that they are responsible for the 

 decrease in small birds ! 



* * * 



The fine imposed upon the Auxiliary Army 

 and Navy Stores in London for the illegal 

 possession of twenty-three recently-taken 

 Goldfinches, is suggestive. The birds were 

 found by an R.S.P.C.A. inspector in a very 

 terrified state, and the excuse made was that 

 they were brought from Ireland, where they 

 were not protected at the time (February). 

 Legally this is no excuse at all, because they 

 are protected all the year in London and 

 therefore the possession of them newly 

 caught is illegal all the year ; on the ground 

 of humanity it made the offence worse. It 

 is not clear why the confiscation and release 

 of the birds did not follow the conviction, 

 for whether they remained at the Stores 

 or went back to the dealer who supplied 

 them it is obvious that these particular 

 victims were no better for the magistrate's 

 praiseworthy sentence. If west -end Stores 

 thus call for a humane society's interference, 

 what is likely to be the knowledge or the 

 humanity of the dealer in the back-streets ? 

 The purchaser of pet Goldfinches rarely 

 thinks of these things. 



* * * 



An interesting decision under the Jamaica 

 bird-protection law of 1914 has been given 

 by the Supreme Court of that country, in 

 a case stated by the magistrate of Whit- 

 horn, Westmoreland (B.W.I.) . For unlawful 

 taking and possession of Lapwing Pigeons, 

 the offenders raised the plea that the birds 

 were taken for domestication. It did not 



