Bird Notes and News 



47 



President of the Societe d'Acclimatation 

 de France and with the President and 

 Secretary of the Ligue Francaise pour 

 la Protection des Oiseaux ; and the 

 efforts to be made for the better en- 

 forcement of the bird-protection laws 

 of France, especially as regards migrants. 

 The proceedings in Grand Committee, 

 position, and prospects of the Govern- 

 ment Plumage Bill were reported. 

 Arrangements were made for the judging 

 of the Public School and Elementary 

 School Essays. 



Three members of the Council of the 

 Society — Captain Tailby, Mr. Meade- 

 Waldo, and Mr. Hastings Lees — have 

 sons on active service in the War. 

 Captain E. R. Meade-Waldo is one of 

 the many young officers whose weddings 

 have been expedited by the call to 

 arms ; his marriage with Miss Gurney, 

 daughter of Mr. J. H. Gurney, taking 

 place at St. Botolph's, Cambridge, imme- 

 diately before his departure with the 

 Expeditionary Force on September 6th. 



Under the heading " Anti - Cruelty 

 Work in other Lands," the National 

 Humane Review (Albany, New York) 

 for September, 1914, contains a sym- 

 pathetic review of the work of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 making special mention of its fight for 

 the Plumage Bill, its work at the Light- 

 houses, the Watchers, the Bird-and- 

 Tree Competitions, and the quarterly 

 organ, Bird Notes and News. The 

 Review is the organ of the American 

 Humane Association, which aims at the 

 protection of both children and animals. 

 Its President, Dr. Stillman, was in 

 England this summer, and a welcome 

 visitor at the office of the R.S.P.B. 

 shortly after the outbreak of the War. 



BREAN DOWN. 



The breeding-season of 1914 has been 

 a very successful one at Brean Down, 

 the R.S.P.B. Bird Sanctuary on the 

 Somerset coast, and also in the case 

 of most of the rare birds whose nesting- 

 areas are guarded by the Society's 

 Watchers. The Brean Down Ravens 

 got off two young ones safely in a new 

 home, their old site having been appro- 

 priated by the Peregrine Falcons, who 

 reared one strong and lusty young one, 

 a tiercel. Both nests were in inaccess- 

 ible places, hard to see and impossible 

 to get at without ropes. On one 

 occasion, during the spring, the Watcher 

 came across three men with ropes and 

 photographic apparatus, looking for rare 

 birds' nests. " I asked them," he 

 writes, " to show me their permission 

 from the Society. They had none. I 

 did not show them the nests, and I do 

 not think they will try again, as they 

 were obviously not climbers." 



Shelducks have hatched out an un- 

 usual number of young ; there have 

 been more Wheatears about than have 

 been observed before ; Swallows and 

 Swifts have done well ; and altogether 

 Mr. Ernest Hawkins' care has been 

 rewarded. The new tenant of the Fort, 

 Mr. Bayley, has also cordially co- 

 operated in the Society's efforts. There 

 is every promise that in time this 

 singularly interesting peninsula, which 

 was in a fair way of being depleted of 

 its rare birds, will become one of the 

 most important bird-haunts in the 

 south of England. The Society, how- 

 ever, is able to preserve it only by 

 renting the shooting-rights, and this is 

 a considerable charge on the Watchers' 

 Fund. 



