BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



11 



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Books Received. 



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" Our Homestead," by Mr. Artliur Trouer, a 

 Fellow of the R.S.P.B., a book which cannot fail 

 to give pleasure to lovers of gardens and birds — has 

 an interesting chapter on " Our Birds and their 

 Home," telling of the numerous feathered guests 

 who nested in this Surrey garden, a paradise where 

 they are made welcome as the right and proper 

 accompaniment of flowers. " Our old Garden," 

 says the author, " bereft of the birds who have 

 made it their sanctuary for iiiany years past, would 

 lose half its charm." Among the abundant illus- 

 trations is a picture of a double nest in a rustic 

 archway ; a Wren was the first to build and on the 

 top of its structure of moss and leaves a pair of 

 Blackbirds made their nest. In his description the 

 author says, — " I have seen few prettier or more 

 interesting sights than the head of the Wren peeping 

 out of the side door, and the head and tail of the 

 Blackbird just vdsible in the upper storey of this 

 curious and surely model dwelling. So far as our 

 observation went there was no unseemly quarrelling, 

 they appeared to be quite ideal neighbours." 



" Wild Nature Wooed and Won," by Magdalen 

 F. P. Tuck and Oliver Pike, tells a variety of 

 amusing stories of Owls, Jackdaws, Kestrels, and 

 other unusual pets, " tamed by kindness " like 

 Mrs. Brightwen's wild creatures. But more 

 interesting are sketches of birds at home, 

 and among these is one of a Brown Owl family in 

 a beech-tree. There were two chicks, with big 

 beaks and big eyes, and strong tempers, and in 

 a scuffle one of the two was pushed out of the hole 

 and fluttered to the groimd. 



" When their father returned he saw wliat had 

 happened, and leaving the mouse he had brought 

 on a branch he went down to the help of this 

 fledgling. When it saw its jiarent it stopped its 

 loud frightened cries, and he picked it up carefully 

 in his claws and carried it to a neighbouring tree 



and placed it in another hole ; then going back for 

 the mouse he brought this to it, and, pulling it to 

 pieces, quite satisfied the rather scared baby. 

 This youngster he looked upon as his special 

 charge, and, while his mate fed one young bird, 

 he looked after this." 



Miss Tuck proceeds to tell how fiercely the Owls 



defended their young. A striking instance of this 



vahant courage in birds is narrated in Mr. Herbert 



K. Job's latest book, " The Sport of Bird 



Study-." Mr. Job was one day occupied in 



photographing the nest of a Brown Thrasher. 



At first the bird simply looked up in his face and 



hissed, but terror of the camera drove it into 



refuge in the bushes. He then put his hand to the 



nest to remove an obstructing leaf : — 



" I was so surprised and startled that I almost 

 fell backward, when instantly the male Thrasher 

 dashed from the shrubbery and struck the offending 

 hand a stinging blow. Quickly he withdrew again 

 and took his station behind the nest with his five 

 big offspring, waiting to see what I would do. . . . 

 Though it was mid-afternoon, the June sun was 

 quite warm, and in a very short time the yoiuig 

 became very restless. The devoted father noticed 

 this and came at once to their relief. Running out 

 from his shelter he took his stand over them, 

 spreading out wings and tail so as to perfectly 

 shield them from the sun. How fine and noble a 

 bird he looked as he bravely did his duty, with an 

 air both fearless and at the same time resigned to 

 whatever fate might befall him ! . . . I thought 

 I would see what they would do if I actually 

 handled the young. So I started to lay hold of 

 the chicks in the nest. But no sooner had I 

 touched it than, like a whirlwind, with shrieks of 

 rage and despair, both Thrashers precipitated 

 themselves upon me. Seizing my fingers with their 

 claws, they hung on, scratching like \'ixens — 

 nipping my hand here and there with their sharp 

 bills, and beating it furiously with their wings. 

 Then they darted oft' into the thicket, and again 

 and again I tried to touch the yoiuig one with the 

 same result." 



The Thrasher is an American Thrush, and one of 



the finest singers of Xew England. 



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The Plume Trade. 



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Mr. Percy Aldex, M.P., has brought in a Bill to 

 prohibit the sale or exchange of the plumage and 

 skins of certain birds. It imposes a jjenalty of £5 

 for the first, and £25 for any subsequent offence, 

 for the jDossession, for sale or exchange, of the 

 plumage of skin, or any part thereof, of any 

 dead wild bird imported into the United 

 Kingdom, which is named in the schedule to 

 the Bill, or not exempted from its operation. 



Scientific specimens, and jilumage for fishing flies, 

 are exempted. The schedule includes the Birds- 

 of-Paradise, Humming Birds, Crowned Pigeons, 

 Herons, Ibises and Spoonbills, Lyre-birds, Emus, 

 Rheas, Owls, Kingfishers, Argus Pheasant, Monal, 

 Todies, Cock-of-the-rock, and Quezal. The Bill is 

 backed by Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, Mr. Radford, 

 Mr. Joseph King, 3Ir. Rowntree, and Mr. Lehmann, 

 and was read a first time on March 15th. 



