BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



55 



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STEEL TRAPS. 



The abolition by law of the pole-trap has 

 not, as keepers are aware, put an end to the 

 catching of birds in steel traps, for these 

 engines of torture are not all set on poles 

 and mounds. The Illustrated Sporting and 

 Dramatic News for November 7th, 1908, 

 gives two photographs, one of a Can-ion Crow, 

 caught by the leg in a trap submerged in 

 shallow water and baited with eggs ; the 

 other " a pitiable example of the trapper's 

 craft," a Heron fast in the steel jaws of a 

 hidden trap. 



" The steel trap " [comments Mr. H. Knight 

 Horsfield], " properly worked, is a most effective 

 engine for the destruction of the smaller four-footed 

 vermin, but when it comes to the trapping of birds 

 the case is different. By reason of the greater 

 length of leg the cruel fangs rarely reach the body, 

 and the bird may nutter for hours or even days 

 before the keeper's return visit sets it free of its 

 misery. Although certain inveterate poachers, 

 such as the Magpie and Carrion Crow, must be kept 

 within bounds, the use of the steel trap is to be 

 deplored, while the destruction of Herons in any 

 fashion is regrettable." 



ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY. 



An Economic Ornithological Committee 

 of the British Association has been formed 

 " to investigate the feeding habits of British 

 birds, with a view to obtaining a precise 

 knowledge of their economic status." A 

 beginning is to be made with the Rook, 

 Starling, and Chaffinch ; and a body of cor- 

 respondents is being organized to provide 

 specimens of the birds at regular intervals 

 of time from different parts of the country. 

 Professor Gordon Hewitt, of Manchester 

 University, is the hon. secretary. 



RAPTORIAL BIRDS IN 

 SOUTH AFRICA. 



The value of birds of prey in South Africa 

 is maintained by Mr. Alwin Haagner in a 

 pamphlet published by the Bird Protection 

 Committee of the South African Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union. The Boer farmers are not 



friendly towards Eagles and Kites, and 

 recently the Transvaal Game Protection 

 Association offered a reward for the destruc- 

 tion of Hawks of all kinds. Mr. Haagner 

 accordingly shows that with one possible 

 exception, all the night-flying birds of prey, 

 and most of the diurnal ones, are wholly 

 beneficial to man ; the Owl and Kestrel 

 particularly so in keeping down rats, mice, 

 reptiles, and insects. 



THE SPRING MIGRATIONS 



The third Migration Bulletin of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union has just been published 

 and deals with the coming of our summer 

 birds in the spring of 1907. It is fully illus- 

 trated, as usual, with maps showing the 

 arrival and course of the various migration 

 waves, and gives numerous records from 

 observers in many parts of the country. 

 The season was remarkable for a fine March, 

 a wintry April, and a cold and wet May. 

 but the effect of these conditions is stated 

 to be doubtful. The main body of birds came 

 later than usual ; but early parties and 

 stragglers of some species were earlier than 

 ordinary, the Cuckoo and Swallow both being 

 noted during the last week of March. 

 Chiff chaffs, it is interesting to learn, were 

 seen throughout the winter in the Penzance 

 district, where their abundance in so 

 curiously unsuitable a region as that of 

 West Cornwall, is commented on by Mr. 

 Hudson in The Land's End. The growing 

 scarcity of the Corncrake is indicated by 

 the fact that in seven English counties 

 (Hants, Sussex, Middlesex, Essex, Bucks, 

 Herts, Suffolk) the bird was not seen or 

 heard in 1907 by a single observer, while in 

 four other counties only two or three records 

 were forthcoming. The Bulletin is edited 

 by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant. and published by 

 Messrs. Witherby & Co. 



