Bird Notes & News 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 :: :: FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS :: :: 



Vol. VI. ] 



WINTER, 1914. 



[No. 4. 



The Preservation of Owls. 



Four years ago a map of England and 

 Wales, showing the amount of protection 

 given by the law to Owls in England 

 and Wales, was published in Bird Notes 

 and News. Since that time the black 

 places on that map have become con- 

 siderably less, for few County Bird 

 Protection Orders now omit to give 

 all-the-year protection to the British 

 Owls. The Pole-Trap, the Owl's most 

 hideous enemy, has been illegal for ten 

 years. 



In spite of this, it is certain that 

 gamekeepers and possibly some farmers 

 continue systematically to kill Owls, 

 and that the Pole-Trap is not extinct. 

 A " preserve " is a sacred place, and, 

 as in the case of the destruction of rare 

 species and of the Accipiters in general, 

 laws are of little practical value unless 

 those inside as well as those outside the 

 precincts desire to have them obeyed. 

 The intelligence and knowledge of land- 

 owner, shooting tenant, and keeper alike 

 must be brought into line with legal 

 edicts. 



It is with this object in view that a 

 Member of the Council of the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds has 

 instituted annual prizes in both the 

 Public Schools and the Elementary 

 Schools for Essays on the Owl family, 

 examining especially the economic status 

 of the birds — their habits, their food, 

 and their prevalence or scarcity. It is 

 comparatively little use educating the 



master if the man is neglected ; the future 

 sportsman, the future landowner or 

 tenant, the future keeper or husbandman 

 must all be reached. 



In the case of the Public Schools, the 

 writers of Essays are asked not only 

 to demonstrate the value of Owls, but 

 also to consider and make suggestions 

 concerning their better preservation. It 

 is curious how much stress is laid by 

 competitors from Eton and elsewhere, 

 in the first year's Competition (particulars 

 of which appear on another page), on 

 the necessity for teaching in the Elemen- 

 tary Schools. Mr. C. P. Blacker, winner 

 of the Silver Medal, bases the need on 

 a double ground. As he rightly says, 

 primitive superstition is at the root of 

 a great deal of the existing hatred of 

 Owls. In old times all night-flying and 

 night-roaming creatures were objects of 

 horror ; the moon was baleful, night-air 

 was deadly. The dread of the birds 

 was increased tenfold by their weird 

 shrieks and hoots and hisses, so readily 

 associated with omens, banshees, and 

 evil spirits. And these old legends and 

 myths still haunt the mind of man. 



"It is bound to be a difficult task to 

 teach a keeper to reason and observe when 

 he grows up. Any knowledge that he may 

 acquire will have its roots sunk in the bed- 

 rock of superstition. . . . Nature-study 

 should be taught in the elementary schools, 

 and at the same time the emptiness of 

 prevailing superstitions should be pointed 

 out and the mind should be trained to 



