82 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



trifling contribution to the sum incurred by 

 the Society in thus employing an experienced 

 and indefatigable Inspector to spend days 

 among the rough Welsh hills, to get up the 

 evidence, and to travel backwards and for- 

 wards from the sessions-town ; and in 

 engaging solicitors of standing to conduct 

 the cases. Nor can it be said that the fines 

 were in any sense adequate to the offence. 



It is the business of employer and employed 

 to know the law of the land on such matters ; 

 and the difficulties in the way of discovering 

 breaches of that law suggests the wisdom of 

 making the penalties for proved offences a 

 warning to other offenders. The Council of 

 the R.S.P.B. are, however, fully resolved 

 that the Pole-Trap Act shall be known and 

 as far as possible enforced. 



UcT 



The Law of Bird'Protection. 



^sr 



It is no secret that the Home Office has for 

 some time been contemplating the consolida- 

 tion of the British Bird Protection Laws. 

 There are now in operation eight separate 

 Acts of Parliament devoted to the subject, 

 which have to be read together for their 

 ultimate interpretation ; and the primary 

 and fundamental Act of 1880 has become 

 confused and perplexing, partly owing to 

 original bad drafting and partly to the 

 amendments and extensions piled upon it. 

 In addition to these, there are the Game 

 Laws ; and also the Acts for the prevention 

 of cruelty, which can be applied to wild 

 birds to a slight and unsatisfactory extent, 

 and the Poisoned Grain Act. 



When the time arrives for consolidation, it 

 is of the first importance that needed amend- 

 ments should be introduced ; that the 

 crooked places, of which there are so many 

 in the present Acts, should be made straight 

 and the rough places plain ; in order that the 

 conundrums and imperfections of existing 

 laws may not be crystallised in the Statute 

 Book. With this end in view, the publication 

 of the R.S.P.B. Gold Medal Essay on Com- 

 parative Legislation* is well timed, since it 

 affords legislators and bird-lovers an oppor- 

 tunity for the first time of considering 



* " Comparative Legislation for the Protection of 

 Birds." By A. Holte Macpherson, B.C.L., F.Z.S., 

 and Lt.-Col. G. A. Momber, F.Z.S. The essay for 

 which the Gold Medal of the R.S.P.B. was given in 

 1908, with extracts from that which obtained the 

 second Prize. 1/- net, by post 1/2. 



British legislation in relation to the views 

 and action of other countries, thus enabling 

 them not only to compare our aims and 

 accomplishments with those of our neighbours, 

 but also to consider the rising question of 

 International legislation. 



In accordance with the terms of the 

 competition, the essayists give a synopsis of 

 the laws of other European countries, and 

 proceed to compare these with British law 

 and with the Model Law of the United States 

 of America and the proposals of the 

 International Convention of 1902. The 

 volume is rendered most interesting to the 

 general reader by the lucid and sympathetic 

 manner in which Mr. Holte Macpherson and 

 Colonel Momber discuss the subject, and by 

 their summaries, comments and suggestions. 

 It forms a handbook which no bird protector 

 should be without. 



As we are in the habit of thinking that 

 Britain is in advance of the world in the 

 matter of animal protection, it may surprise 

 many readers to discover how numerous are 

 the protective laws of Europe, ranging from 

 those of Switzerland, facile princeps in their 

 thoroughness, to the poor and disregarded 

 regulations of Turkey and Greece. In one 

 respect Britain, perhaps, stands at the head. 

 It appears to be the one country which enacts 

 a general Close time for all and every bird. 

 Germany, Norway, and one or two other 

 countries have instituted a general Close 



