Bird Note* and News 



117 



with thousands of feet," and called on to pay 

 for the destruction of nearly 23,000 Hawks. 

 Perhaps it is as well, in the interests of wild 

 life in New Zealand, that the finances of this 

 worthy society cannot stand such an outlay 

 in money and of time in counting claws, 

 every year. 



* * * 



It has often been suggested that a census 

 of Rooks or Rookeries should be taken in 

 England. Of Heronries a list has been 

 privately compiled by a well-known 

 naturalist. In the United States a Bird 

 Census was taken in 1915 and in 1914 under 

 the auspices of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Its results show the Robin to be the 

 commonest bird of the States (this, be it 

 remembered, is a species of Thrush, re- 

 sembling the British song-thrush with a 

 red breast) ; the English Sparrow is a close 

 second ; and next in order come Catbirds, 

 House Wrens, Brown Thrashers, Kingbirds, 

 and Bluebirds. The bird population is 

 regarded as much less than it ought to be, 

 in view of insect depredations ; and it 

 indicates that centres of human population 

 are more thickly inhabited than the forest 

 primeval. The record for density was 

 furnished, says The Sportsman (Seattle, 

 Washington) by a district in Maryland, where 

 161 pairs, representing 34 species, nested on 

 23 acres of land. 



An article in the Daily News on the 



thriving, and extravagant, Christmas trade 



of Islington, has the following paragraph : — 



" Another sign of the times to make the 

 reflective pause was the crowd thronging 

 round a busy merchant who had a big bath 

 full of larks for sale. They were live larks, 

 very woebegone and dreadfully frightened. 

 The bath was netted over the top to prevent 

 their escape, and from time to time the 



presiding naturalist would plunge his hand 

 in through a hole in the netting, grab a 

 fluttering bird by the wing or the leg, haul 

 it out and cry : " Buy, buy ! buy ! Here 

 y'are ! finest songsters, and only a tanner 

 apiece. Buy ! buy, buy ! " He found a 

 ready sale. The purchasers wrapped them 

 up in knotted handerchiefs and carried 

 them joyfully home." 



In face of this continuous torture of wild 

 birds in the Saturday and Sunday markets — 

 birds netted, prisoned, suffocated, terrified, 

 and with a fate perhaps happiest if they die 

 in the knotted handkerchief, we are pleased 

 to call ourselves a humane nation. 



* * * 



A contrasting picture happily indicates the 

 feeling that is growing quickly in classes above 

 the customers of the East-end market. In a 

 certain town famous for its beauty, a central 

 and fashionable emporium recently started 

 tentatively a department for caged birds, 

 including a few British wild birds of species 

 popular for caging. Protest was quickly 

 raised by influential customers, who saw to 

 what this beginning might lead ; and one 

 member of the R.S.P.B. pleaded so well and 

 in so gracious a manner, that the management 

 not only undertook to stock no more birds 

 taken from the wild life of English woodlands, 

 but handed over those in their possession 

 to be released. They were accordingly set 

 free by their friend in private grounds, where 

 food was near to hand, and their strength of 

 wing indicated that their captive life had 

 been short. The little story is one on which 

 all concerned may well be congratulated and 



thanked. 



* * * 



In his interesting and practical presiden- 

 tial address at the annual meeting of the 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, on December 

 4th, Mr. Riley Fortune spoke vigorously ou 

 the necessity of protecting the wild life of 



