BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



47 



really collected from the nests, or from the ground 

 or water beneath the heronry, since these birds 

 always breed in the swamps where the water is 

 either dirty or strongly coloured with vegetable 

 matter, the feathers — even if undamaged — are likely 

 to be so soiled and discoloured, as to be oidy fit for 

 inferior purposes, or for dyeing. 



" Certainly after the Government in Dcmarara 

 had enforced the Ordinance for the Protection of 

 Wild Birds, forbidding their slaughter under a 

 penalty of 24 dollars for each bird or part of a bird, 

 no trader found it worth his while to collect plumes 

 in the harmless manner described by Mr. Laglaize, 

 even in the various convenient localities where large 

 heronries were situated 



" Is it not possible that Mr. Laglaize was led into 

 witnessing a collection of comparatively worthless 

 plumes as a blind to the real process of judiciously 

 planned slaughter ? " 



It may be added that Egrets and Herons 

 are not the only birds which the Bill seeks 

 to protect ; its aim is also to preserve count- 

 less other species which are being ruthlessly 

 slain, and some of which are on the border- 

 land of extermination. 



Bird and Tree Challenge Shield Competitions. 



INTER-COUNTY SHIELD. 



Nine Teams were eligible for the Inter-County 

 Competition this year, comprising the winners of 

 the seven County Challenge Shields ; Yatton, ruled 

 out of the Somerset Competition in 1907 on account 

 of having won its County Shield two years in suc- 

 cession : and Buckland, the champion Berkshire 

 school. The task of deciding the respective merits 

 of so many excellent sets of Essays was not a light 

 one ; and when the selection was finally narrowed 

 down to three, these had to be most critically read 

 by several judges before the decision was arrived 

 at. All, however, agreed in giving the Inter- 

 County Shield to Long Ashton School, Somer- 

 set, while Yatton and Buckland were placed 

 equal Seconds, and will each receive a Bronze Medal 

 and a handsome Book for the School Library. 

 The papers by the Long Ashton children on the 

 Shrike, Blackcap, and Wagtail show them to be 

 observant, accurate, and painstaking observers 

 and recorders. The Tree papers were not quite so 

 good. The Yatton Team have equally good Bird 

 subjects in the Reed-Warbler, Moorhen, and 

 Peewit, and display close and intelligent knowledge 

 not only of these birds but of birdlife in general. 

 The Tree Essays are also sound and graceful pieces 

 of work. The Buckland Team distinguish them- 

 selves, as Buckland Teams have invariably done, 

 by their lively and attractive style of writing ; 

 they send charming Essays on Nightingale, Bull- 

 finch, and Redstart, and on Black Poplar, Chestnut, 

 and Catalpa. 



All these Schools have illustrated their Essays 

 admirably, some in colour, some with pen, and some 

 with pencil. 



Havant Council School (Hampshire) and 

 Stony Stratford National School (Bucking- 

 hamshire) are Highly Commended. 



The Judges for the whole Competition were : 

 Mr. Montagu Sharpe, Chairman of the Council ; 

 Mr. W. H. Hudson, F.Z.S.. Mr. W. R. Ogilvie- 

 Grant, F.Z.S., Mr. Ernest Bell, Mr. G. A. Freeman, 

 B.Sc, Mr. Hugh F. Spender, Mrs. F. E. Lemon, 

 F.Z.S., Miss Pollock, and Miss Gardiner. 



COUNTY CHALLENGE SHIELDS. 



Seven silver County Challenge Shields have been 

 competed for, competitions in Norfolk and War- 

 wickshire being organized by the County Education 

 Authorities. The north, south, west, and east of 

 England are, therefore, represented in the lists, 

 and it may be hoped that before long one or more 

 competitors may come in from Scotland, a country 

 not wont to be behindhand in educational matters. 

 The spirit of the contest is naturally much better 

 understood now than when the first trial of the 

 scheme was made in 1902 ; there is more outdoor 

 study, more watching, more note-taking ; less 

 dependence on facts drawn from books, from lessons, 

 and from hearsay. Observation, which is now a 

 strong feature of the great majority of the papers, 

 is still devoted too exclusively to nests and eggs. 

 Constant visits to nests have to be very warily 

 made if the birds are not to suffer from the 

 intrusion, and if tracks and traces are not to be 

 left which reveal the place to less friendly eyes. 

 Moreover, the whole interest of a bird does not lie 

 in the colour of its eggs and the nakedness and 

 hungriness of nestlings ; and the song and call- 

 notes at least should come in for a closer share of 

 study. A country girl or boy ought to be able to 

 identify a bird's note quite as well as its nest '■> 

 but there appear to be about fifty children who 

 can describe a Chaffinch's eggs to one who even 



