Bird Notes and News 



93 



Bird-and-Tree (Arbor) Day. 



All Schools entered for the Competition 

 may be reminded that the Essays should 

 be written either before the School breaks 

 up for the summer holidays or as soon as 

 it re-opens. It is a great convenience to 

 the Society, and facilitates the issue of the 

 Report, if the Local Judges will examine 

 the papers and pick out the six best (three 

 on Birds, three on Trees) as soon as possible 

 after the writing of them, so that these may 

 be forwarded to the Society without delay. 

 Some hints for the Essay-writing are given 

 in the " Spring Letter to Cadets," which is 

 supplied gratis to Schools. Note-books need 

 not be sent in unless specially asked for. 

 Any drawings forwarded separately should 

 in every case bear the name of the Cadet 

 and of the competing School. 



There was not a very large Competition 

 last year for the special Owl Prize ; and 

 no doubt this is a difficult bird for children 

 to observe. The Prize is again offered 

 this year. 



The Competitions will probably suffer to 

 some extent this year through the loss 

 from School Teams of older scholars who 

 are wanted to help in the fields. This 

 occupation should, however, but give them 

 increased opportunity for observing wild 

 life ; and in order that no difficulty may 

 be placed in their way, it will not on this 

 occasion be necessary that a Cadet should 

 attend school the whole year in order to 

 be eligible to compete. Attendance during 

 any part of the school year will be sufficient. 



The drafting away of boys and girls at an 

 earlier age than usual gives, however, a 

 special opportunity to the younger Teams, 



and none of these need be afraid to enter 

 the lists or be without hope of taking a 

 good place in the Competition. 



The number of Festivals held in the spring 

 and summer of 1915 has certainly not been 

 less than usual. Even Felixstowe Ferry, 

 without a schoolhouse, and with the majority 

 of children attending another school, has 

 had its celebration, thanks to the kindness 

 of Mrs. Maxwell Balfour in giving a Bird- 

 and-Tree garden-party in the grounds of 

 Thurloe House. More noteworthy still, a 

 little Team has been recruited from the 

 twenty children whose homes are within 

 the defences and who attend a temporary 

 school ; their roaming is restricted on 

 three sides by sea, river, and firing range, 

 but they have access to the marshes, and 

 no doubt, in true British spirit, will keep 

 up the reputation of the Team. 



The largest number of Cadets entered from 

 any one school stands to the credit of the 

 Western Schools, Southampton, which en- 

 rolled no fewer than sixty boys last year, 

 but did not after all compete. This year it 

 is to be hoped they will prove their mettle. 

 For 1915 Newburgh in Lancashire leads the 

 way with fifty-one Cadets out of a total 

 number on the school-register of eighty - 

 seven. In contradistinction to large schools 

 with four or five hundred scholars, is one in 

 Cumberland with a total of only sixteen, 

 which yet provides a Team. It is impossible, 

 from results in the past, to say whether 

 large or small schools do best. The chances 

 seem about equal. 



