76 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



A protracted meeting of the Council was 

 followed by a meeting of the Watchers 

 Committee, who had before them, inter alia, 

 reports as to watching in Dungeness, the 

 Isle of Wight, the Shetlands, and Aberdeen- 

 shire ; the preservation of the Choughs, 

 Terns, Bearded Tit, and Kite ; the report of 

 the Fame Islands Bird Protection Associa- 

 tion ; and communications respecting the 

 destruction of the raptorial birds of Norway. 



DEATH OF Mr. FRANCIS KING. 



The Council of the Society has again to 

 deplore the loss of one of its members, and 

 one who had for many years been associated 

 with the work of Bird Protection. Mr. 

 Francis King joined the Society in its early 

 days and had been Hon. Local Secretary for 

 Chelsea since 1894. In 1895 he was elected 



to a seat on the Committee (now the Council), 

 and was a constant attendant at the meetings. 

 For some time he had not been in good 

 health and he spent the winter of 1908 

 abroad, but returning to England in March 

 died almost immediately after his arrival. 

 His kindly co-operation will be much missed. 



ANIMAL PROTECTION CONGRESS. 



The Society is among the supporters of the 

 Congress to be held at Caxton Hall, July 6th 

 —10th, 1909. The Bird Protection section 

 will include papers on the work of the Danish 

 Society " Svalen " and the Education of 

 Children, by Oberstelieutenant Mehrn (Copen- 

 hagen) ; the Importance of Bird Protection 

 in northern countries, by Madame Ullner 

 (Helsingfors) ; the Caging of Birds, by Mr. 

 Ernest Bell ; and the Ownership of Birds, by 

 the Secretary of the R.S.P.B. 



ucr ucr Economic Ornithology, ^sr ^r 



THE FARMERS AND THE LAPWING. 



The Royal Society for the Protection of 

 Birds having written to the Home Office 

 with reference to the refusal of the Home 

 Secretary to grant the request of the Dorset 

 farmers, made through the County Council, 

 that the eggs of the Lapwing should be 

 completely protected, received on May 13th, 

 1909, the following reply from the Right 

 Hon. Herbert Samuel, M.P., Under Secretary : 



" The Home Secretary is well aware of the utility 

 of the Plover to agriculture, and he is in full 

 sympathy with the desire of the Dorset County 

 Council to give it and its eggs adequate protection. 

 The existing Order for Dorset falls short of what 

 the County Council proposed in not protecting the 

 eggs earlier than the 15th April in each year. 



" In regard to Plovers' eggs, certain considera- 

 tions have to be taken into account which do not 

 apply in the case of other birds. These eggs are a 

 recognised article of diet, and it would be a serious 

 interference with trade to make it a criminal 

 offence to take them at all. It seems, indeed, 

 probable that among the first to complain would be 

 the farmers themselves, who can now draw a sub- 

 stantial profit from this trade, and who do not 

 realise that to protect the eggs would do more than 

 to make it an offence for -unauthorised persons to 

 take tl loin. 



" Prominent bird-lovers have publicly expressed 

 the opinion that it is unnecessary to protect the 

 Plover's first brood, if the parent birds are not 

 destroyed. And Sir Herbert Maxwell has said. 

 ' By all means let these eggs be collected,' provided 

 that the parents are protected ; though he con- 

 siders that protection of the second brood is com- 

 mendable. 



" If the County Council is anxious to give further 

 protection to the Plover, I think that they should 

 apply in the first instance for it to be included in 

 Clause V. of the Order. This would protect the 

 bird itself during the year against all comers. 



"If, with such an Order in force, they find after 

 a reasonable interval that the bird is seriously 

 diminishing in numbers, or that still further pro- 

 tection is needed, then would be the time to make 

 out a case for the protection of the first brood as 

 well as the second." 



Clause V. of the Order gives all-the-year 



protection, and the inclusion of the Lapwing 



therein would, therefore, make it illegal to kill 



or take the bird itself at any time. With 



regard to the eggs, the Hon. Secretary of the 



Milborne St. Andrew Farmers' Club (Dorset) 



writes : 



" I have never known any farmer yet who has 

 ever sold an egg, and I can speak for a hundred 

 farmers, as we fully realise the splendid qualities of 

 the bird." 



