BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



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THE ANNUAL MEETING. 



Two practical suggestions to Bird Pro- 

 tectors were made at the Annual Meeting of 

 the R.S.P.B. The Duke of Bedford advised 

 the adoption of the hint given by the Home 

 Office to the Dorset County Council some 

 little time ago, to the effect that the numbers 

 of the Lapwing could bo kept up by having 

 the bird protected all the year round. Even 

 sportsmen could hardly object to this, as the 

 Green Plover is not a good table bird ; and 

 were it placed on the fully protected list in 

 all counties, with protection also for the 

 second lajung of eggs, the farmers would 

 benefit and England be spared the reproach 

 of British Lapwings in the shops of the United 

 States, Let it be remembered, however, that 

 while the Home Secretary recommends pro- 

 tection for the birds on the ground that 

 egg-taking is a legitimate industry, it is not 

 long since Lincolnshire magistrates refused 

 a conviction for the use of the " landwatch " 

 in trapping Lapwings, on the ground that 

 the trapping of the birds constitutes a 

 flourishing trade. 



CLERGY AND THE " OSPREY." 



The second suggestion at the Meeting was 

 that given by the Rev. H. R. Gamble, the 

 well-known rector of Holy Trinity, Sloane 

 Street, that the clergy generally should be 

 asked to do what he has done — display the 

 wall-sheet of " The Story of the Egret" in 

 their church porches. Women's hats are not 

 an easy subject for pulpit reference ; but any 

 sympathetic clergyman or minister (and who 

 among them are not sympathetic in this 

 cause ?) might consent to give space to the 



placard alongside the Lists of Voters and 

 other porch literature, and leave it to preach 

 its silent sermon. 



The suggestion is an admirable one, and 

 it is to be hoped that members of the Society 

 will urge the request as widely as possible. 



BLUE BIRDS. 



Birds seem curiously to the fore in public 

 entertainments just now. Apart from the 

 conspicuous example across the Channel, two 

 cases at home have aroused the attention of 

 bird-lovers. The introduction of live birds, 

 coloured blue, for the dramatic requirements 

 of " The Blue Bird," suggested dyeing 

 processes hardly agreeable, and possibly 

 fatal, to the pigeons employed. It appears, 

 however, that R.S.P.C.A. officers have 

 examined the birds and found them none the 

 worse for the treatment. Sixty birds are 

 used in relays of thirty, " so that no bird is 

 at the theatre for more than a week at a 

 time, and spends every alternate Aveek in 

 the country." Their strange appearance 

 must flutter the country dove-cotes. 



THE PALACE PAGEANT. 



The second matter touches Wild Bird 

 Protection more closely. A statement was 

 widely circulated by the newspapers that 

 some thirty thousand sparrows were to be 

 used in connection with the Empire Pageant 

 at the Crystal Palace ; they were to be 

 caught in relays, for the purpose of being 

 dramatically freed in some scene or other. 

 As the catching of multitudinous wild birds 



