consists of (1) an historical review of Bird 

 Protection law in Great Britain (a fuller 

 history of which appears in Vol. IV. of Bird 

 Notes and Neivs) ; (2) a digest of the present 

 laws with chapters on the offences and penalties, 

 and on the enforcement and administration 

 of the Acts ; (3) results of the present law ; 

 (4) the proposed new law ; (5) international 

 law. It is a document of importance not only 

 to those immediately interested in the pre- 

 servation of wild birds, but to the country 

 at large ; and while many members of the 

 Society will no doubt obtain the Eeport 

 (•Cmd. 189) from the Stationery Office or through 

 a bookseller, others may be glad to have a 

 classified summary of the main recommenda- 

 tions, and to compare them with the provisions 

 of the present Acts and with the amendments 

 suggested in the last number of this journal. 



The Present Law. 



The present Acts number eight ; while 

 cruelty to birds, and the use of poisoned food 

 are dealt with under the Cruelty to Animals 

 Act. They establish a close-time from 

 March 1st to August 1st for all birds, subject 

 to the right of owners and occupiers of land 

 and persons authorised by them, to destroy on 

 such land any but scheduled species. Certain 

 birds are scheduled by the'Act of 1880 and 1881 ; 

 others may be added by County or Borough 

 Councils. These councils may also vary the 

 close-time, protect specified birds beyond the 

 close-time throughout the county, or all birds 

 in particular places ; protect specified eggs 

 throughout a county or all eggs in particular 

 places for a stated period ; exempt a county 

 or part of a county from the Acts in respect 

 of any bird or of all birds. Orders have been 

 obtained in all counties in England and Wales 

 except Monmouth and Radnor, and every 

 county in Scotland except Bute, Elgin, and 

 Linlithgow. As a general rule they do not 

 follow any settled plan ; they are very long, 

 and must be long if they are to furnish any 

 considerable additional protection beyond the 

 meagre Act of 1880. Public advertisement 

 is required only for Orders under the amending 

 Acts and not for the principal Act, and such 

 advertisement is ilsually incomprehensible to 

 the general pubhc. 



In Ireland there is no power to make Orders 

 for County Boroughs (which are not included 

 in administrative county areas) or to jirotect 

 birds beyond close-time. In many counties 



the close-time for certain birds has therefore 

 been extended to December. 



" We fear," says the Report, " that few persons are 

 likely to take steps to master the somewhat compli- 

 cated provisions of the Acts and Orders, or to commit 

 to memory the long lists of names of birds and parishes 

 contained in the Orders relatmg to their districts ; 

 and as long as the law remains as varied and as difficult 

 to understand as at present, it can hardly be expected 

 to secure any satisfactory degree of observance." 



This is the admitted state of things. 



" The present law is generally declared to be 

 complicated and unintelligible. A law tvhich is 

 to bind educated and wiedumted, adult and child, 

 and to be administered in the main by country 

 police and country justices, should be before all 

 things simple, clear and definite'' — {Bird Notes 

 and News.) 



Form of Legislation. 



The Committee had the choice of two methods 

 of procedure : either to adopt a new form of 

 legislation, or to consolidate and amend the 

 present Acts. Either each species of bird 

 must be protected according to its merits, or 

 according to the common idea of its merits ; 

 or all birds must be protected, with specific 

 exceptions. 



The latter method is at first sight by far 

 the simplest and most obvious. It is probably 

 the only method by which rare birds, especially 

 rare visitors, can be adequately protected. 

 The man with the gun will always " not know " 

 he has shot a rare bird if the illegality dejiends 

 upon the shooting of that particular species. 

 It was the plan proposed in a tentative Bill 

 submitted to the Committee by Mr. Montagu 

 Sharpe, Chairman of the R.S.P.B., and of 

 Bills which have been introduced by Mr. 

 Bigwood. Mr. Sharpe's Bill provides all-the- 

 year protection for all birds except those on a 

 black list, with power to owners and occupiers 

 to take or kill outside close-time, and power to 

 local authorities to alter close-time and to add 

 to or remove birds on the black list. The 

 whole difficulty in regard to such a proposition 

 lies in the drawing up of the black list and in 

 difficulties with owners' and occupiers' rights. 

 The popular idea is that the black list would be 

 extremely short, and would merely outlaw the 

 house-sparrow and one or two other abundant 

 species. Owing, however, to general ignorance 

 of bird life and its economic value, contentions 

 on this point would perhaps be unending. 

 The proceedings of " sparrow " clubs have 

 clearly shown what would follow upon the 



