16 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



UcT UCT UcT NoteS. UcT 



UeT UcT 



The B.O.U. and BIRD PROTECTION. 



At the annual meeting of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union on May 20th, the 

 following addition to the rules was moved 

 by Mr. H. F. Witherby :— 



" That on satisfactory evidence being furnished 

 to the Committee that any member of the Union 

 has taken or caused to be taken, or killed or caused 

 to be killed, after June 1, 1908, or purchased, 

 knowing it to have been taken or killed in the British 

 Islands, any egg or bird as detailed below, the 

 Secretary of the Union shall be directed to remove 

 the said member's name from the list of members, 

 and to inform the said member of the fact in writing. 

 Further, that no member removed under this law 

 shall be allowed to stand as a candidate for re- 

 election within the space of five years, and that 

 should such member be proposed as a candidate 

 after this lapse of time, then it should be clearly 

 printed in the list of candidates that such candidate 

 had been removed imder this law." 



The appended list contains the names 

 of (a) species to which this rule is intended 

 to apply at all times ; and (b) species to 

 which it is to apply in the breeding season 

 only, the prohibition as to eggs applying to 

 both lists : — 



(a) Bearded Tit, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, 

 Marsh-Harrier, Hen-Harrier, Montagu's 

 Harrier, Common Buzzard, Golden Eagle, 

 White-tailed Eagle, Kite, Hobby, Osprey, 

 Common Bittern, Spoonbill, Kentish Plover, 

 Avocet, and Chough. 



(b) Crested Tit, Snow Bunting, Grey-lag 

 Goose, Dotterel, Red-necked Phalarope, Ruff, 

 Whimbrel, Black Tern, Sandwich Tern, 

 Roseate Tern, Great Skua, Black-throated 

 Diver, Red-throated Diver, and Greenshank. 



Although this salutary rule was not passed, 

 the fact that it was introduced in such a 

 body as the B.O.U. , and was referred to a 

 committee for consideration, indicates the 

 scientific ornithologists' growing conviction 

 that men who are doing their best to ex- 

 terminate rare birds, and to evade the laws 

 of the country, are unfit to be ranked as 

 British naturalists. 



THE PURCHASING COLLECTOR. 



The need of a general list of protected 

 birds, not only for the B.O.U., but for the 

 whole country, has been repeatedly urged 

 by the R.S.P.B. It is absolutely essential 

 for the preservation of rare species that some 

 such list as that suggested by Mr. Witherby, 

 (a) quoted above, should be scheduled for 

 protection throughout the year by every 

 County Council in England and Wales. 

 (Scotland has practically such a list, and 

 the Act of 1896 does not, unfortunately, 

 apply in Ireland.) While the law remains 

 as weak as it is on the question of possession, 

 it is also especially desirable that the pro- 

 tection rules of any ornithological body 

 should be aimed at the man who purchases 

 rare birds. When the time comes for amend- 

 ing the law, it may possibly take a similar 

 course. If it followed automatically that 

 Eagles, Bitterns, Harriers, etc., instead of 

 being readily sold to collectors, became, 

 as soon as shot, the property of the State 

 or the County Council, without fee or pay- 

 ment to the shooter, then farmer, labourer, 

 and keeper would, at any rate, not be en- 

 couraged by the hope of monetary gain, 

 as is at present the case, to repeat the per- 

 formance on the first opportunity. 



BIRD PROTECTION IN GERMANY. 



Germany is well on the way towards 

 adopting the provisions of the International 

 Bird Protection Convention. The Special 

 Committee appointed by the Reichstag to 

 consider the subject of further legislation 

 for preserving wild birds have passed a series 

 of resolutions which will be brought before 

 the supreme body in the form of a Supple- 

 mentary Bird Protection Bill. The main 

 features of the Bill will be : (1) The prohibition 

 of all destruction of nests, eggs, and young 



