56 



Bird Notes and News 



birds is incomplete, and to a large extent 

 misleading, that does not deal with the 

 question of the nature of the food fed to 

 the young bird or nestlings, for during the 

 nestling period the food of the parent birds 



consists largely of insects, slugs, spiders, 

 and worms, and that of the young almost 

 entirely so, and the amount of food con- 

 sumed is greater than at any other season 

 of the year." 



Notes. 



The Ligue Francaise pour la Protection des 

 Oiseaux is, like its British sister- Society — 

 but under far greater difficulties— striving to 

 carry on " business as usual." Though the 

 publication of the Bulletin has been sus- 

 pended until happier times, members are 

 promised in future numbers reports of 

 meetings held and publication of articles 

 received since the beginning of the War. 

 Meantime the Secretary, M. Delacour, has 

 issued a circular-letter recounting the 

 various projects in hand when the bombs 

 of German kultur were hurled upon civiliza- 

 tion. Among these schemes work in the 

 Schools has a prominent place, emphasised 

 by the issue, with the approval of the 

 Minister of Public Instruction, of a special 

 booklet for the Societes-Scolaires de pro- 

 tection. Another publication on the way is 

 a Practical Guide to Bird Protection, by the 

 Ligue's President. The Society, it is further 

 stated, were co-operating with an English 

 officer, " grand ami des Oiseaux " (Captain 

 Tailby), who had given 500 francs towards 

 the better protection of Swallows on migra- 

 tion. After an inspiring recapitulation of 

 efforts, including the circulation of the 

 card " Some Victims of the Plume-Trade," 

 M. Delacour concludes : — 



" We look forward to the future with 

 great hope. When the victory of our arms 

 has brought back a glorious and beneficent 

 peace, we shall recommence our useful 

 labours, and the economic role of the Ligue 

 will become considerable. Never will agri- 

 culture have more pressing need of all 

 its helpers ; in the agricultural revival of 



that part of our country which has been 

 so cruelly devastated nothing must be 

 neglected. The aid of the Birds in com- 

 bating those other perfidious enemies, the 

 insect invaders and ravagers of the fields, 

 is, as we know, one of the most precious 

 and powerful. An important task is then 

 reserved for the Ligue : she will not fail 

 in it." 



The members of the Ligue Frangaise 

 are specially asked to contribute, to the 

 meetings to be held during the winter and 

 spring, any observations bearing on the 

 effect upon birds of either the present War 

 or that of 1870. This is a matter which, 

 so far as regards the existing struggle, has 

 occupied a good many minds in Great 

 Britain ; and some people have expected 

 to see a huge immigration of feathered 

 fugitives, including species hitherto little 

 seen in this country. So far there appears 

 to be no evidence of such abnormal move- 

 ments in the Bird world, although a northerly 

 migration of species which usually go south 

 is said to have been noted on the east 

 coast in October. It is hardly probable 

 that Birds , without the migratory instinct 

 and unaccustomed to the migration routes 

 to Britain, would cross the seas from Europe. 

 Soldier-ornithologists have commented on 

 the absence of birds in Belgian fields and 

 forests ; but in a thickly-populated and 

 closely cultivated land such as Belgium was, 

 Bird-life is not abundant as in England. 

 Another correspondent of the Press marks 

 the appearance of an Eagle in Kent, and 



