BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



17 



birds, together with the sale, transit, and 

 export and import of nests, eggs, and young 

 birds of European species. Certain exceptions 

 are made in the case of nests on buildings, and 

 of the eggs of Plovers and Gulls. (2) Prohibi- 

 tion of all birdcatching when the ground is 

 covered with snow ; of birdcatching and 

 killing with nets and weapons at sight ; of 

 birdcatching by means of poisoned substances, 

 or by blinded decoys ; of the use of bird-lime, 

 traps, and nets. (3) A close time from March 

 1st to September lst,during which the catching 

 and killing, sale, purchase, import, export, 

 transit, and transport of all European birds, 

 dead or alive, is forbidden ; Titmice, Nut- 

 hatches, and Treecreepers to be protected 

 all the year. The law is not to apply 

 to game birds, and to certain named species ; 

 but none of the birds thus removed from 

 general protection maj^ be caught by traps 

 or snares. 



WILD=FOWLING ON NAVIGABLE 

 RIVERS. 



The Severn wildfowl-shooting case, which 

 recently occupied considerable time and 

 attention in the Chancery Division, is of 

 some importance to bird protectors. The 

 action was one for trespass on certain 

 lands in Gloucestershire, brought by Lord 

 Fitzhardinge, and the defendant was a 

 Mr. Lews Purcell, who claimed the right 

 to shoot wild fowl thereon. The " lands " 

 in question consist of the River Severn, 

 from high-water mark to the middle of 

 the channel, within three of Lord Fitz- 

 hardinge's manors. The final decision, there- 

 fore, depended on the question as to whether 

 or no all the King's subjects possess the right 

 to shoot wild fowl on the foreshore and in 

 the bed of a tidal river. In this respect 

 the learned judge held that the rights of the 

 public were those rights of passage and 

 fishing which are known to common law in 

 the sea and its foreshore ; and he found, he 

 said, no suggestion in the authorities of any 

 such public right of wild-fowling as suggested. 



cither in the sea itself or in the channels of 

 public navigable rivers. It was argued that 

 defendant had a right to be in his boat on 

 the Severn, and being there, could not be 

 prevented from killing wild birds, in which 

 there was no property known to law. Mr. 

 Justice Parker, however, held that this right 

 was only one of passage, justifying qo claim 

 to shoot the w ild fowl as he passed along. 

 Further, added his lordship, " I am not 

 satisfied that the common law recognises no 

 proprietary right at all in wild birds." The 

 finding (April 13th) was accordingly that Mr. 

 Purcell had failed to establish his claim or to 

 justify his acts. This judgment establishes 

 that, whatever custom or tolerance may allow, 

 the public have no right to shoot wild fowl 

 on a navigable river. 



THE BIRD MARKET. 



Mrs. Fuller Maitland, whose keen 



sympathies with wild life are never keener 



than when roused by the pathetic misery of 



captive birds in street or shop, writes (April 



23rd, 1908) :— 



" The other day I bought two little WaxbiUfl 

 from a man who was hawking them on a stick in 

 the street, in the bitter wind. I bought them only 

 to bring them in out of the wind and the fumes 

 of the petrol motor-omnibuses. One died yester- 

 day, I think of pneumonia, and I could not have 

 believed that such a tiny being could have suffered 

 as it did just before it died, breathless and con- 

 vulsed. I hoped that it might recover with warmth 

 and care, but if the other begins to be really ill in 

 the same way, I shall have it chloroformed to avoid 

 such suffering. The worst of it is that birds are 

 dying in the same needless misery every day. I 

 feel more strongly than ever the brutal cruelty of 

 the cage-bird traffic, and do hope and trust the 

 Society will do all it can to reduce the suffering of 

 these helpless little things that die by the thousand 

 of pneumonia and neglect." 



WILD BIRDS' PROTECTION BILL. 



A Bill to prohibit the catching or taking 

 of wild birds by means of hooks or similar 

 instruments was read a first time in the 

 House of Commons on June 17th. It is 

 backed by Sir F. Banbury, the Marquess of 

 Hamilton, Lord E. Talbot, and Colonel 

 Lockwood. 



