24 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



wild birds, and is the section under which in con- 

 junction with the Act of 1896 power to jorotect 

 birds all the year round can be brought about. It 

 was argued that as " killing and taking " only are 

 mentioned there is no power to prevent sale, offering 

 for sale, or possession, beyond the period named in 

 section 3. 



The Lord Chief Justice, in delivering judgment, 

 pointed out that the words " killing and taking " 

 were themselves not mentioned in the earlier part 

 of the Act, and it would be strange if a variation 

 in the time for these offences should make it unpos- 

 sible to convict for the offence of selling or posses- 

 sion during part of that time. What was meant 

 was that the alteration of the time for the killing 

 and taking of wild birds should alter the time during 

 which the penalties imposed for all offences under 

 section 3 should have effect. Therefore, m his 

 opinion, having regard to the provisions of the Act 

 of 1880, together with the Schedule in the Order for 

 the County of London of 1909, it was an offence to 

 be in possession in the County of London during 

 any portion of the year of living Larks recently 

 caught. It seemed to him, further, that Larks, 

 though legally caught in Cambridgeshire, could not 

 legally be brought alive into the County of London. 

 In his opinion the decision of the magistrate was 

 right, and the appeal was dismissed. 



Mr. Justice Channell and Mr. Justice Coleridge 

 concurred, the former remarking that the Chief 

 Justice had brought an intelligible meaning out of 

 statutes which were extremely difficult to construe. 



The Pole-Trap in Hertfordshire. — At Wel- 

 u-yn on June 10th, Frank Jenks and Stephen 

 Parker, keeper and under-keeper to Mr. A. W. 

 Merry, were charged respectively with permitting 

 and setting two pole-traps, one on a pole, the other 

 on a cairn of earth. Both men pleaded ignorance of 

 the law. The traps were found by the Inspectors 

 of the R.S.P.B. and the R.S.P.C.A., and on a 

 " gibbet " were four recently killed Owls. Parker 

 said thi two old Owls were shot and tlie young 

 ones trapped. Jenks was dismissed, but the costs 

 remitted. Parker was fined 2 6 and costs in each 

 case. (The offence was a double one : it has been 

 for 30 years illegal to kill Owls in close-time, and it 

 is hard to see how a keeper could be ignorant of 

 that fact.) 



Killing Owls in Close Time. — At Wonford 

 on April 26th, Thomas Court, gamekeeper, of 

 Treehill, was summoned for having six newly-killed 

 Brown Owls in his possession. He pleaded ignorance 

 of the law (which has been in existence thirty years). 

 The Chairman said that ignorance was no excuse 

 but let him off with the payment of costs, 5s. 6d. 



Poisoned Grain. — At Ongar, Hugh Craig, farmer, 

 was summoned for laying poisoned grain in a field, 

 on March 14th, and John H. Kirby, chemist, 

 of Chipping Ongar, for aiding and abetting. It wa.s 

 stated that dogs had been poisoned, and as the 

 poison was given away by the chemist, the police 

 had difficulty in tracing the offender. Over one 

 hundred birds were picked up dead, including 

 several pheasants, and strychnine was found in 

 the crops. Fined £1 and £1 6s. 9d. costs each. 



Shooting Gulls. — At Woolton, on March 4th, 

 William Thorpe was fined for shooting six Gulls 



on the Mersey foreshore, where all wild birds are 

 protected all the year round. 



BiRDCATCHiNG. — At Epping, on April 8th, Albert 

 Cousins, of Lambourne, was summoned for setting 

 snares and using limed twigs and a call-bird in 

 Hainault Forest. On seeing the keeper. Cousins 

 took to his heels, and the bird, which was left 

 behind, was found to have been blinded. Fined 

 5s. inclusive ; hardly, as the Essex County Chronicle 

 comments, a proper punishment in a case where a 

 bird is used upon which this horrible cruelty has 

 been perpetrated. — At Woking, on April 16th, three 

 London men were ordered to pay 6s. each for posses- 

 sion of ten freshly-caught birds at Byfleet on Good 

 Friday. When liberated by the police eight of the 

 birds flew away ; two fell to the ground exhavxsted. 

 At the same Court two other defendants were ordered 

 to pay 7s. each for using bird-lime at Send. — At 

 Highgate, Wm. Mead and Harry Page were fined 

 10s. each and costs for using birdlime at Hornsey, 

 cages and birds to be confiscated. — At Epsom, on 

 May 30th, Walter Hill, of Walworth, was ordered to 

 pay 5s. for using bird-lime at Headley,his implements 

 to be confiscated. — At Brighton, Charles Barnard, 

 a i^rofessional catcher, was fined 10s. for using nets 

 to take birds at Bevenden on March 26th. He 

 made the usual assertion that he was " only giving 

 his linnets an airing." 



The Bird-Shop. — At the South-Western Police 

 Court (Metropolitan), James Powers, bird-dealer, 

 of Balham Hill, was summoned by the R.S.P.C.A., 

 under the Wild Animals in Captivity Act, for 

 cruelty to birds. On May 22nd (Sunday) the officer 

 noticed two Silverbills and two Cut-throats exposed 

 m the window without protection from the sun, 

 one without water in the cage, the other with a little 

 dirty water in a tin can. Repeated knocks at the 

 door brought no response, and next morning the 

 two Silverbills and one Cut-throat were dead, and 

 the other bird dymg. Defendant said that the sun 

 di'ied up the water, and also that the rats, with which 

 the shop swarmed, drank it ; he had caught seven- 

 teen rats in one night. Fined 20s. and costs. 



"THE STORY OF THE EGRET." 



In Seven Scenes. 



With reproductions of Photographs taken by Mr. 

 Mattingley, of the Australasian Ornithologists' 

 Union ; price 3d., by post 4d. ; mounted on art 

 paper Is., post free. 



Arranged as a loxll-sheet or placard, with sdlected 

 letterpress, 3d., by post 4d. Mounted on stout 

 cardboard, ready for hanging. Is. free. 



Bird Notes and News (issued quarterly) will 

 be sent post free to any address for Is. per annum, 

 payable in advance ; single numbers, 3d. 



To Members of the Society subscribing 5s. and 

 upwards per annum it is forwarded gratis and post 

 free. 



Printed by Witherbv & Co., 326, High Holborn, W.C., and 

 published by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 23, Queen Anne's Gate, S.W. 



