BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



59 



Naturalists' Society, put it in the course of a 



lecture on Bird-life at the recent annual 



meeting of the Society : 



" The smallest of our Warblers, the Willow- 

 Wren, would, if a bird could speak, tell a tale of 

 hair-breadth escapes on its spring and autumn 

 travels that would eclipse most narratives of human 

 daring. From Yorkshire to the Algerian oases, 

 from the Arctic regions to South Africa, he must 

 fly to obtain the food and warmth necessary to 

 carry him through the winter. In Africa he basks 

 in the sunshine, and feeds on an abundant insect-life, 

 till, in spring, the mysterious instinct calls him to 

 face the long joiu-ney back to the land where he was 

 born and reared. The oasis loses its charm, and 

 when the langour of the winter moult is over, he 

 feels strong enough to face the terrors of the passage, 

 with its storms, and with enemies lying in wait for 

 him. At least 1,500 miles away the leaves are 

 coming out in the dell where he was born, and here 

 he arrives when the cold east winds are still whistling 

 through the bare oak boughs. He has travelled 

 up the Portuguese coast, over the Pyrenees, through 

 Bordeaux and Brittany, flying by night and feeding 

 and hiding by day ; escaping the fatal lighthouse 

 that destroyed so many of his companions ; till he 

 arrives at the familiar spot, and as he recognizes 

 each tree in the wood, he breaks forth into the first 

 song of the year, and we know that sunshine and 

 warmth are replacing the blasts of winter, and that 

 the gladness of spring is here." 



BIRD PROTECTION ORDERS. 



The majority of the Scottish Bird Protec- 

 tion Orders, issued for a period of three years, 

 expired in February, 1911, and have, with 

 a few exceptions, been renewed with various 

 alterations. For half-a-dozen counties. Orders 

 have either not been apphed for or are not 

 yet issued. It may be remembered that an 

 effort was made to secure uniform Orders 

 for Scotland by dividing the countrj' into 

 north and south divisions, and issuing practi- 

 cally the same Order for all the counties 

 in each division. This admirable attemj^t 

 has been, to some extent, frustrated by 

 variations asked for by this county and the 

 other, but the common basis prevents the 

 divergencies from becoming as complicated 

 and as confusing as those of Enghsh counties. 

 The best feature of the new Orders is the 



extension of Sunday Protection to eleven 

 counties. The worst, from the Bird Pro- 

 tectors' point of view, is the abbreviation 

 of close-time for certain species, by which 

 Gulls have been practically deprived of all 

 protection in the breeding-time in four coun 

 ties, one of which (Banff) invites the cheap- 

 tripper and the plume-hunter to come and 

 extirpate its sea-birds during the breeding- 

 season, \)y removing protection not only from 

 Common, Herring and Black-headed GulLs, 

 but also from harmless Kittiwakes and 

 Terns, and from Gannet and Fulmar Petrel. 



On the other hand, Aberdeen, after study- 

 ing the evidence afforded by the researches 

 of Professor Arthur Thomson, of Aberdeen 

 University, has decided to protect the eggs 

 of the Black-headed Gull, the species having 

 received a severe set-back in the county smce 

 the County Council removed protection 

 from the eggs in 1908. In Kincardineshire 

 the Herring Gull is excluded from protection 

 on the ground, it appears, that it does great 

 injury to crops. 



The taking of Lapwing's eggs is prohibited 

 in Kincardine and Caithness after April 1st ; 

 and in all other counties (so far as the Orders 

 are issued) after April loth. 



The effort of sportsmen to secure better 

 protection for the Woodcock has resulted 

 in no few than five different close-time 

 periods for the bird in Scotland. 



Orders have also been issued since January 

 1st, 1911, for Derbyshire, B C E F S ; York- 

 shire, North Riding, A (b) C F ; Yorkshire, 

 East Ridmg, A (b) A (e) B C D E F S ; County 

 Borough of Great Yarmouth, B C E F S ; 

 County Borough of Newport, A (b) A (e) 

 C C E F S ; and for Mayo, for eggs of certain 

 species, and Wexford, for all eggs in the 

 Saltee and Keeragh Islands. 



A new Bird Protection Order for Malta 

 was issued on January 24th, 1911. 



