20 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, the intrepid 

 traveller and naturalist, who was killed in 

 the Sudan on April 2nd, was a supporter 

 of the Watchers' Fund of the Society ; Dr. 

 Gordon Stables, R.N., the well-known writer, 

 was Hon. Local Secretary for Twyford 

 (Berks) ; General Carnell, one of the heroes 

 of the Punjab and Mutiny campaigns, was a 

 Life Associate. 



BIRDCATCHING IN CLOSE TIME. 

 The Society's Inspector again devoted 

 several weeks in the early spring to careful 

 investigation in districts where birdcatching 

 goes on most extensively— warning offenders, 

 rousing up and consulting with the police, 

 interviewing local workers, and watching and 

 warning bird-shops. Brighton Downs have 

 always been a lucrative hunting-ground for 

 the catcher, and will apparently remain so 

 until the entire business is made illegal there. 

 During the close season, however, business 

 is quiet, and the Order was found well 

 posted over the district, one of the interesting 

 sights seen by the Inspector being a Kestrel 

 near Black Rock, perched on a board bearing 

 the Bird Protection placard. Shepherds on 

 the Downs told him that in hard weather 

 dozens of catchers are to be seen daily ; and 

 a cycling constable said that at Telscome he 

 could sometimes see a dozen of the men at 

 work. The police could not touch them 

 then, as the Skylark has no winter protection 

 in East Sussex. It was not uncommon for 



men to take fifty or sixty dozen birds away 

 with them, and they practically denuded the 

 Downs thereabout. 



The Inspector also went over the catching 

 grounds of Middlesex, Cambridgeshire, Essex, 

 and parts of Surrey and Berkshire, whence 

 information of bird-catching had reached 

 the Society. Kingston Market, the regular 

 resort of a dealer with a barrow of caged- 

 birds, was visited ; and the police were 

 informed of the facts in cases investigated 

 near Raynes Park, in the Chorley Wood 

 and Wanstead districts, and in other neigh- 

 bourhoods. A close watch was kept on the 

 London bird-shops. The demand for caged 

 birds, and consequent number of shops selling 

 British birds, is believed to be steadily on 

 the decline ; but there are still parts of the 

 country where catching goes on briskly in 

 close time. 



In North Cambridgeshire and on the 

 Suffolk border, the Inspector reports, the 

 trade goes on all the year, and will continue 

 until the traffic in wild birds by public 

 conveyance is made illegal in close time. 

 The men get easy permission in the fruit 

 districts ; moreover, they all keep back- 

 room " aviaries," where the day's catches can 

 be turned out at night, so that any birds 

 can be sworn to as " old stock," or they are 

 careful to possess breeding boxes, and swear 

 every bird of which they are found in posses- 

 sion is cage-bred. 



ucT ucT Books Received. ucr ^sr 



Eggs and Nests of British Birds. By Frank 

 Finn. With 154 eggs in colour and other illustrations. 

 London : Hutchmson & Co. 5s. A useful pojDular 

 handbook, uniform with the same author's "Birds 

 of the Countryside." The eggs are shown the actual 

 size. An additional chapter gives briefer particulars 

 relating to birds occasionally visiting but not nesting 

 in Britain. 



British Nesting Birds. By W. Percival Westell. 

 With 8 coloured and 70 black and white illustrations. 

 London : J. M. Dent & Sons. Is. A cheap and liandy 

 guide, on the plan of Mr. Elms' excellent "Pocket 

 Book." The full index, giving local and old names 

 of birds, is a noteworthy feature; the 178 species 



dealt with are represented by nearly a thousand 

 names. 



The Brotherhood of Love. By Florence 

 Horatia Suckling. London : G. Bell & Sons. Is. 

 Stories and legends of saints and their friendships 

 with animals and birds , daintily presented, and 

 including some saintly men of modern times. 



Der Naturschutz. By Dr. Konrad Guenther. 

 With 54 illustrations. Freiburg : F. E. Fehsenfeld. 

 4 marks. A book attractive to all nature-lovers 

 and devoting considerable attention to Birds and 

 their protection • and encouragement ; one chapter 

 is occupied with details of nest-boxes and food- 

 houses on the Berlepsch plan. 



