BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



103 



Croughton, Braunston, Rockingham and Weedon 

 all do good and promising work that indicates 

 genuine interest and careful outdoor study ; and 

 a large number of other schools deserve commenda- 

 tion and hearty encouragement. 



NORFOLK. 



Challenge Shield : Sprowston Council School. 

 Certificates of Excellence ; Saham Girls' School ; 

 Sporle ; Hingham ; Postwick ; Mileham ; Wrox- 

 ham ; Little Dunham ; Shelton and Hardwick : 

 Tittleshall ; Wimbotsham (Girls) ; Worstead ; 

 Wymondham ; Downham (Girls) ; Bracon Ash 

 and Hethel ; Coltishall ; Guestwick ; Fakenham 

 (Girls) ; Hickling ; Horning ; Long Stratton ; Sur- 

 lingham ; Little Fransham ; Thetford ; Old 

 Buckenham ; Attleborough (Boys) ; Yaxham. 



Norfolk gave a hard task to the examiners, no 

 fewer than 112 schools competing, thus furnishing 

 672 essays. This should be eminently satisfactory 

 to the County Education Committee, by whom the 

 competition is organised. In most cases the papers 

 are well done, and indicate that real interest has 

 been taken by the children, inspired and helped by 

 the teachers. Generally speaking, there is a dis- 

 tinct endeavour to work direct from Nature, and 

 many papers reveal enthusiastic and painstaking 

 ■effort. Usually, also, they are well written and 

 neatly arranged, and in not a few cases capital 

 drawings are added. Oddly enough, while the 

 three winning teams in Northants are composed of 

 boys, the three leading schools in Norfolk are girls'. 

 All these papers are remarkable for careful and 

 accurate note-taking, the young damsels of Sporle 

 evidencing also an unusual degree of thoughtfulness. 

 The Hingham boys write in a particularly bright 

 and interesting manner ; the Postwick team papers 

 are admirable for their intelligent appreciation and 

 freshness ; and those from Mileham are agreeably 

 straightforward and boyish. In addition to the 

 27 teams placed by the judges in the first class, the 

 work of 32 other schools is specially commended on 

 account of the large totals of marks credited to them. 



SOMERSET. 



Challenge Shield : Frome Boys' School. 

 Proxime accessit : Long Ashton. Second Prize : 

 Yatton. Certificate of Excellence : Exford. Highly 

 Commended : Clutton ; Catcott ; Dytche ; Bridg- 

 water; Wembdon. Commended : Combe Hay; Oldfield 

 Girls (Bath) ; Bruton ; East Brent ; Brent Knoll. 



There is again close and keen competition in 

 Somerset, but the number of competitors is not so 

 large, several promising teams are absent, and owing 

 partly to this and partly to the fact that the average 

 age is less than usual, the seneral standard reached 



is not so high as in previous years. The Shield is 

 awarded to the Frome Boys, whose genuine and 

 enthusiastic work reveals not only earnest study, 

 but the observant and sympathetic spirit of the 

 naturalist, which this competition was organised 

 to promote. Their drawings are, as usual, admirable. 

 Long Ashton, as the winner of the County Shield, 

 1907-08, and of the Inter-County Shield last year, 

 is ruled out this year, but retains its name on the 

 county list by sending in papers by a second team ; 

 though these can, in the nature of the case, obtain 

 only an honorary award, they gain a high position 

 owing to the excellence of the tree papers, and taking 

 into consideration the youth of the writers. Yatton, 

 ruled out for the last two years as the winner in 

 1905-06, comes again into the running, and scores 

 very highly for accuracy and for the neatness and 

 clearness of composition which always distinguish 

 this school. Exford, another young team, sends in 

 uniformly good and interesting essays. The Clutton 

 team's faculty for accurate observation would have 

 fuller scope if the epistolary style were not con- 

 stantly adhered to, and thus a little more elasticity of 

 style individualised the writers. Catcott makes a 

 marked advance since last year. The young competi- 

 tors from the Dytche Schoolgive considerable evidence 

 of intelligent note-taking, though their work at 

 present is too slight. Bruton, East Brent, and 

 Brent Knoll (the last a new competitor) have 

 benefited by careful teaching, with which they have 

 mingled a certain amount of their own observations ; 

 while the Wembdon papers consist entirely of 

 original notes, good in the case of the trees, but 

 leaving much to be desired in the birds. 



WARWICKSHIRE. 



Challenge Shield : Middleton School, Tam- 

 worth. Second Prize : Henley-in-Arden. Certificates 

 of Excellence : Mancetter; Elborrow. Highly Com- 

 mended : Bearley ; Filloughby, Girls ; Murray Boys, 

 Rugby ; Stratford - on - Avon, Girls ; Commended : 

 Coughton ; Bilton ; Curdworth ; Harbury ; Salford 

 Priors. 



There is a distinct improvement in the work from 

 Warwickshire, the competitors evidently feeling 

 more at home with their subject than was the case 

 in the first year of their competition. Three schools 

 compete very closely for the Shield, which Middleton 

 wins by the close and careful observation shown and 

 the high level of all the papers. The drawings are 

 good, and include a remarkably clever sketch from 

 nature of the Whitethroat. The Henley-in-Arden 

 team, Shield-winners last year, write in a charming 

 style, and their essays are pleasant reading, as they 

 are concerned with what the writers have seen for 

 themselves. Only just behind comes Mancetter, 



