Bird Notes and News 



107 



Council to have all protection removed from 

 the Starling, on the ground that it is 

 injurious to crops. 



" Without entering on the question of the 

 economic value of the species (the greatest 

 existing check on the Tipula or daddy- 

 longlegs grub), may I point out that at 

 present the farmer, and every other occupier 

 of land, is at liberty to kill Starlings at all 

 times of the year and to destroy their eggs. 

 The one and only point to be gained by an 

 infringement of the general Close -time Act 

 would be to place young birds at the mercy 

 of the trespassing hooligan at the nesting- 

 time and thus afford him opportunity and 

 excuse for destroying also other birds at 

 this season. 



" In the cause not only of common 

 humanity, but also of the farmer himself, such 

 an attempt is most strongly to be deprecated. 



" Worcestershire has already made itself 

 remarkable among English counties by 

 refusing to protect the charming thistle - 

 eating Goldfinch from the bird-catcher. It 

 will hardly improve its reputation by seeking 

 to break down the Act of 1880 in the 

 interests of the marauding invader of field 

 and preserve." 



CLOSE-TIME PROTECTION. 

 Repeated efforts are made by various 

 County Councils to have the Act of 1880 

 tampered with and Close-time protection 

 removed altogether from this bird or that ; 

 or, in other words, to have certain birds 

 placed wholly outside the pale of protection 

 at all times of the year. It is safe to say that 

 the request is usually rooted in ignorance ; 

 to say that it is made with knowledge would 

 in most cases be a reflection on the intelligence 

 of the Councils. The Act of 1880 provides 

 that birds shall not be killed or caught in 

 the season when the helpless young are in 

 the nest ; but to this is added the proviso 

 that any person who owns or occupies land 

 may kill even at this season any bird that 

 is not in the schedule of that Act. Now, the 

 schedule includes no bird which can be 



regarded as inimical to man, and if any such 

 species has been added to the list, the addition 

 has been made by the County Council itself. 

 Moreover, no eggs are protected, except by 

 a County Council : nor is any bird protected 

 from August to March except by a County 

 Council. The margin would seem great 

 enough for dealing with the most destructive 

 and worthless of birds, and no bird is 

 wholly destructive. The simple enactment 

 that catching and killing are not, for these 

 few months, permitted to the irresponsible 

 vagabond in lane or field, wood or common, 

 without permission, is the keystone of the 

 British Bird-Protection law — the one general 

 principle which applies to the whole country 

 and which can be readily grasped by the 

 policeman and the ordinary man. It is 

 most sincerely to be hoped that the Home 

 Office will allow no further tampering with 

 this provision in respect of any species 

 whatsoever. Such tampering can have but 

 one result : the downfall of the whole 

 structure. 



Said Professor Newton nearly fifty years 

 ago : "A close-time must be established in 

 this country. I entirely deprecate showing 

 favour to one species rather than another : all 

 should be put on the same footing. It should 

 be as penal to shoot a Hawk or a Sea-Gull 

 out of season as a Pheasant or a Grouse. 

 Each has its proper and useful function." 

 And in the House of Commons in 1880 Sir 

 John Lubbock emphasized the necessity for 

 protecting all birds without exception, if 

 the close-time was to be worth anything. 

 Half-heartedly, Professor Newton's dictum 

 has been accepted, and the close-time 

 established must be maintained. There must 

 be no going-back to the state of things that 

 existed before 1880. 



