BIRD NOTES pind NEWS. 



Ilssnefi (IJuartcrlii bji tbe lloiial ^ocictg for tise protection of girDs. 



Vol. IV.— No. 5.] London : 23, Quken Anne's Gate, S.W. [MABCH 25, 1911. 



THE STORY OF BIRD PROTECTION— Y. 



HE early history of the Society 

 for the Protection of Birds, 

 was briefly told in the first 

 number of Bird Notes and 

 News (April, 1903) ; but as this sketch of 

 the Bird Protection movement has now 

 reached the year 1889, something must be 

 said of the beginnings of the Society which 

 was founded in that year. 



The general position of the movement has 

 been shown. The destruction of British 

 sea-birds for millinery had been checked 

 by the Sea-Birds Act of 1868 ; and a close- 

 time had been given to all species of birds 

 (in intention at least) by the Acts of 1880-1. 

 Meantime the trade in foreign birds Avas 

 growing, and these were being killed in 

 enormous numbers for their j^lumage. A 

 glance at the jjages of any fashion-paper 

 for 1886-7, shows how perpetually whole 

 birds appeared as trimming on the ugly httle 

 hats of the period. With the fashion had 

 grown the protest against it on the part of 

 ornithologists and other thinking persons ; 

 and efforts were being made to form societies 

 and leagues to discountenance the barbarous 

 trade. 



In February, 1889, Mrs. Robert W. 

 Wilhamson, of Didsbury, Manchester, started 

 a " Society for the Protection of Birds " with 

 this object. It began quietly and unobtru- 

 sively : persuasion among friends and 

 acquaintances, letters to newspapers urging 

 the need for such a protest and inviting 

 co-operation, were the methods used. But 

 the seed fell on prepared ground — it was 

 watched and watered by a ^Aorker A\hose 



heart was in her work ; and the young plant's 

 rapid growth was a surprise, a deUght, and no 

 light responsibility. Letters of hearty ap- 

 proval and sympathy began to reach Mrs. 

 Wilhamson from many parts of England and 

 Wales ; the labour of attending to them 

 seemed likely soon to pass beyond the powers 

 of one person ; and in two years' time its 

 foundress felt that the young Society should 

 have its centre in the capital city of the 

 kingdom, since there seemed to be a distinct 

 place for it among the civilizing, conserving, 

 and reforming agencies of the age. Accord- 

 ingly, in May, 1891, Mrs. Wilhamson trans- 

 ferred the Hon. Secretaryship to Miss 

 Hannah Poland, a London resident, who had 

 interested herself in the movement. In the 

 following month the Duchess of Portland 

 gave the association the honour and prestige 

 of her name as President. About the same 

 time Miss Poland also happily obtained the 

 co-operation of Mrs. Edward Philhps, who, 

 after man}^ j^ears of \Aork as President of the 

 Tunbridge Wells S.P.C.A., had removed to 

 CroA'don, and who forthwith became the 

 second mother of the little Society. How 

 much it owes to her zeal and wisdom onh' its 

 older workers know. Miss C. V. Hall 

 became Hon. Treasurer, and in October, 1891, 

 the first Report was issued — a very modest 

 affair, A\hose balance-sheet (receipts £7 

 13s. 8d. and expenditure £6 3s. 11 id.) 

 raised some good-natured laughter. The 

 number of "members" was then 1,200. 

 " It will be seen," said the report : — 



" That no subscription is asked from ordinary- 

 members, and at starting, no payment was required 

 for cards of membership. Donations, at one time 



