70 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



UcT 



Birdcatcbing in Close Time. 



UcT 



Convinced of the good results achieved last 

 spring by the employment of an inspector 

 to work among the birdcatchers and bird- 

 dealers in close time, the Royal Society for 

 the Protection of Birds again retained his 

 services for the spring of 1909. The summary 

 of his experiences in 1908, reprinted from 

 Bird Notes and News, under the title 

 " The Birdcatcher at Work," is suggestive 

 reading to those who know little of the extent 

 of the trade, even though touching on only 

 a few districts. This year the area of 

 operations was again necessarily limited, and 

 lay chiefly in Middlesex, Herts, Bedfordshire, 

 Cambridgeshire, and Sussex. The Inspector's 

 general report indicates that much less 

 catching goes on in the close season than was 

 formerly the case, especially during the early 

 part of the time ; the notices then are newly 

 out, the police are on the watch, and, 

 moreover, dealers take care to have plenty 

 of birds in hand to meet the demands of the 

 first few weeks. 



Bird protection notices were found well 

 displayed in the beginning of March in most 

 of the districts round London and in Sussex, 

 but in certain neighbourhoods not one was 

 to be seen, and ignorance of the Acts pre- 

 vailed. There was a general willingness on 

 the part of the police to display the Society's 

 placards, even in preference to the county 

 notices, because being of small size they 

 take less room on a notice-board. Warning 

 notices as to possession and sale of birds 

 were left at bird-shops and other places, and 

 the Inspector considers that the number of 

 these shops in London has decreased ; 

 several which were specially complained of 

 and cautioned last year have since put up 

 their shutters. 



Most of the birdcatching for the London 

 market goes on in Bedfordshire, Cambridge- 

 shire, and Sussex. In the Isle of Ely there are 



hundreds of acres of marsh land where 

 common rights exist and no permission has 

 to be obtained from land occupiers. In North 

 Cambridgeshire, which is largely devoted to 

 market gardening, catching takes place on 

 a large scale pretty well all the year round, 

 permission being easily obtained. At 

 Bedford the Inspector was granted an 

 interview with Mr. Marks, Clerk to the 

 County Council, who takes an active interest 

 in the matter, and thanks to him the catching 

 of Larks in close time is believed to be 

 practically stopped. In Sussex useful in- 

 formation was obtained relative to the taking 

 both of small birds and of rare species. In 

 some parts a certain amount of terrorism 

 exists, and if a farmer or landowner refuses 

 permission to the catchers " something 

 happens " to the live or dead stock of that 

 unlucky individual. In one little town there 

 are about a dozen men who live by their raids 

 on the bird-life of the countryside ; in past 

 days at least it was a profitable trade, for 

 one of them is said to own a row of houses 

 built out of the proceeds and called " Linnet 

 Terrace." In another centre a well-known 

 gang, whose send-off had averaged 500 birds 

 a week, were discovered " working honestly 

 for their living for the first time on record." 

 The local police had given them three days 

 to clear their stock, together with the in- 

 formation that the R.S.P.B. inspector was 

 coining round again. 



The Inspector had information of the taking 

 of birds in a Hertfordshire village by means 

 of a rope baited with maize on fish-hooks, 

 but he w r as not able to prove this offence 

 against the Act of 1908. 



The Inspector's report again emphasizes two 

 of the chief difficulties met with. Many 

 professional birdcatchers have, or assume 

 to have, " aviaries " in which they stock 

 a supply of birds at the latter end of the open 



