64 



Bird Notes and News 



both subject and treatment. The Birds 

 selected are Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, 

 and Sedge Warbler; the Trees are True 

 Service, Whitebeam, and Larch. The ardour 

 with which these girls have thrown them- 

 selves into the task, and the zeal with 

 which they have accomplished it, are 

 delightful to meet with, while the unusual 

 artistic appreciation shown gives an added 

 grace to their essays. Two other Bucks 

 Teams also send in first-class papers. 

 Princes Risborough furnishes the one Owl 

 paper from the County, but generally 

 speaking the Tree-papers are a good deal 

 fuller and better than those on Birds ; 

 Walnut, Larch, and Apple are all very 

 well and nicely described, and there are 

 good pencil drawings. The Coleshill papers 

 again are full of personal records presented 

 in clear and straightforward fashion, and 

 they include capital observations of Blue-Tit 

 and Moorhen ; admirable memory sketches 

 accompany the descriptions of Trees. 

 Another Team deserving of special com- 

 mendation is Tyringham-cum-Filgrave, for 

 though the essays are short they are original 

 in matter and full of intelligence. 



CUMBERLAND. 



Challenge Shield. — St. John's Girls' 

 School, Keswick. 



In this County again the girls come to the 

 top — a somewhat singular fact, seeing how 

 much more boys are as a rule given to 

 interest in wild creatures and out-of-door 

 explorations, and how greatly men out- 

 number women as naturalists. The work 

 of boys is apt to be fresher and more direct 

 than that of girls, but seemingly they let 

 themselves be beaten off the field. The 

 Keswick Girls win the Shield for the second 

 time. In the study of Trees they are 



distinctly at the head, Blackthorn, Dog- 

 wood, and a rare Silver Fir (Picea nobilis) 

 being admirably described and prettily 

 pictured. As regards Birds the Team have 

 a strong competitor in that of Netherwasdale, 

 for while they send interesting accounts of 

 Tit, Treecreeper, and Chaffinch, none of 

 these comes up to the paper on the Curlew 

 by one of the Netherwasdale Boys. Writing 

 in an easy, natural way, and very largely 

 from his own observations, on an uncommon 

 and interesting bird, this young student gives 

 promise which the Judges hope to see further 

 developed next year. The other papers by 

 the Team are well up to the average, 

 but too short. Kirkoswald, always to be 

 depended on for evidence of excellent 

 Nature-Study teaching, is not at its best 

 this year, good as the papers are. Cargo 

 shows a considerable amount of thought and 

 originality, and two Cadets only nine years 

 of age will, if they go on as they have begun, 

 soon do their part in bringing the Shield 

 to their School. Promising work is con- 

 tributed by a junior Team of the Keswick 

 Girls, and by Nenthead. 



HANTS AND ISLE OF WIGHT. 



Champion School. — Ridge. 

 Challenge Shield. — Privett. 



Admirable as is the work sent in from 

 many Schools in Hampshire, Ridge seems to 

 have made up its mind still to be first and 

 again succeeds in the intention, though 

 closely followed by half a dozen other 

 Teams. Ridge's Birds are Nightingale, 

 Mistle-Thrush, and Great Crested Grebe ; 

 the Trees, Hazel, Douglas Fir and Lime. 

 The work is thoroughly original, close, and 

 sympathetic. As Ridge has already won 

 the Shield in two successive years, it now, 

 by the regulations, passes to Privett as 



