46 



Bird Notes and News 



Notes. 



There would appear to be hope for the Antarctic 

 Penguins, now slaughtered at the rate of a million 

 and a half a year solely for boiling down for their oil. 

 Their cause has been espoused with vigour and 

 eloquence by Sir Douglas Mawson, and also, in the 

 Spectator and Times, by Mr. Cherry-Garrard, who 

 was Assistant -Zoologist to Scott's last expedition 

 and was also a comrade in the Discovery Expedition 

 of Dr. E. A. Wilson, who wrote about the Penguins in 

 Bird Notes and News as long ago as 1903. Mr. 

 Cherry-Garrard writes : — 



" Will some humane Member of Parliament ask 

 whether these killings are to stop for the future 

 entirely, and, if not, what measure of protection the 

 Commonwealth Government is prepared to give ? 

 The Penguin has won a Httle bit of affection from all 

 of us because he is entirely lovable, and because he 

 snaps his flippers at the worst conditions in the world. 

 If we do not help him now we can never look him 

 straight in the eyes again." 



A new problem is presented to Bird Protectors by 

 the coming of civilian aviation. It is essential for 

 the safety of man, bird, and beast that no shooting 

 should be allowed from such aircraft. Otherwise 

 irreparable raids may be made on bird colonies, 

 especially on cliff-building birds and incoming migrants. 

 The soul of the punt-gunner and the fool with a 

 gun would pass readily into the flying bounder. 

 General Sir Desmond Callaghan, who has condemned 

 with vigour the ugly idea of big-game shooting 

 from the secure elevation of the air-plane, writes to 

 the Society : — • 



" You have indeed my full support as regards the 

 suggestion that no civilian should be allowed to carry 

 firearms in an aeroplane. We know the sense of 

 sport that animates the seaside tripper on the shore 

 — in an aeroplane he would be infinitely worse." 



National and International aviation laws should 

 settle this matter quickly. 



M. Louis Ternier has been elected President of the 

 Ligue Fran^aise pour la Protection des Oiseaux, in 

 succession to the late M. Magaud d'Aubusson. 

 His presidential address, given in the March number 

 of the Society's Bulletin, balances admirably the 

 claims of the bird from the material and the aesthetic 

 standpoints, and shows how the demand for pro- 

 tection is inspired ahke by practical argument and 

 by ennobling sentiment. " Birds," like the landscape, 

 are nature's works of art, and man should have no 

 more right to destroy them wantonly than to destroy 

 the works of art of man." 



The manner in which the wild birds of this country 

 are guarded is illustrated by two cases reported in 

 the papers. In a certain southern county, in April, 

 a man out pigeon-shooting deliberately set a bait for 

 a Peregrine Falcon ; the bird flew down and was 



winged, whereupon it bravely attacked its assailant 

 and was beaten to death with a stick. The police, 

 when informed, had no information to give nor sug- 

 gestion to make. They merely proposed to ask the 

 R.S.P.C.A. if they wanted to do anything ! Yet the 

 police are paid to carry out Bird Protection as well 

 as other laws ; and they are not relieved of that duty 

 even as regards the cruelty clauses with which alone 

 the R.S.P.C.A. is concerned. 



In the second case, the North Wales Weekly News 

 recorded that a Llanrwst birdcatcher had, again in 

 the close season, caught 58 Goldfinches in one day — 

 which should have cost him £58 and the confiscation 

 of his nets. Letters were sent from the R.S.P.B. to 

 the police and to the newspaper, with the result that 

 the offender was, on May 26th, convicted and fined £2. 

 A man who bought two of the birds was fined £1 ; 

 and at Conway subsequently a second purchaser was 

 fined 10/-, while a third, who had released the birds 

 on being told he had no right to them, was let off on 

 paying costs. 



It is cheering to learn that other pubUc museums 

 are supporting the work of the (British) Natural 

 History Museum in educating the public upon the 

 economic value of birds. Liverpool is one of these ; 

 and the various Liverpool Public Libraries also are 

 about to exhibit permanently in the juvenile depart- 

 ments specimens of some familiar wild birds, caUing 

 special attention to their value to agriculture. 



The Journal of the Board of Agriculture has changed 

 the colour of its cover, but not, unfortunately, its 

 tactics as regards wild birds. Even in an article on 

 apple-aphides, Mr. Theobald, of Wye Agricultural 

 College, writing much about dusting, spraying, etc., 

 names as " natural enemies " of these pests only 

 parasites, predaceous insects, and fungi. What about 

 the invaluable Tit family, and other birds which 

 stuff themselves and their nestlings with " blight " ? 

 Again, in the " down with the hedges " article, these 

 are abused as " harbouring birds and vermin " ; the 

 authorities of the Board apparently remain wholly 

 unconscious of the fact that hedges " harbour ' 

 mainly insect-eating birds which are of " incalculable " 

 value (the Board's word) and do not " harbour " 

 house-sparrows. 



The Board, however, has sent a communique to the 

 newspapers " denying the allegation that the depart- 

 ment is conniving at, if not actually encouraging, 

 the indiscriminate slaughter of all kinds of small birds. 

 Such policy is likely to do far more harm than good 

 in the interests of food production. The only instance 

 in which the Board has advocated concerted action 

 against any kind of small bird is in the case of the 

 destructive house sparrow." This declaration may 

 raise a sardonic smile, but it is good to know that 

 the Board is at least not proud of the havoc wrought 



