68 



BIBD NOTES AND NEWS. 



UcT UcT UcT Notes. .yCcT .XcT UcT 



THE KILLING OF RARE BIRDS. 



In spite of Acts of Parliament, remonstrances, 

 appeals and comments in the strongest possible 

 terms on the part of every ornithologist worthy of 

 the name, the killing of rare birds goes on wherever 

 a rare bird is seen by one of those unintelligent 

 members of the comravmity who wander about 

 with gun in hand ready to aim at any interesting 

 target. In April a fine White-tailed Eagle, a young 

 male about two years old, was shot by one of the 

 keepers at Downham Hall, Brandon, Suffolk ; in 

 the same month another bird of the same species 

 was shot near Scarborough. In neither county, 

 unfortunately, is it scheduled, and, therefore, no 

 prosecution could be instituted. The White-tailed 

 Eagle is now confined as a breeding S23ecies to two, 

 perhaps three, stations in the far north of Britain 

 and here the birds are anxiously watched and 

 guarded by watchers of the R.S.P.B. This spring 

 one of the watchers wrote that a female bird had 

 returned alone to one of tlie nests, and was flying 

 around and about, waiting for her mate, who never 

 came. "It is no vise watching there this year," 

 writes the watcher, " there will be no nest, the other 

 bird has, no doubt, been shot." A pair of Ravens 

 retvirned this spring to an old breeding-ground in 

 Sussex ; both were shot when their young were 

 half -grown. On Flat Holm, in May, a Snow-Bunting 

 was shot in full breeding plumage. This is the 

 charming little bird known in its winter visits as 

 the " Snowflake," and never before recorded to 

 breed in Wales. It is some satisfaction to 

 know that the specimen has been forfeited by 

 magistrates' order. 



THE WILD-LIFE OF BRITAIN. 



An opportunity which may not occur — which we 

 loyally hope will not occur — again for many years 

 has been characteristically lost : Great Britain has 

 celebrated the coronation in pretty well every town 

 and village by much eating and drinking, by pro- 

 cessions and treats, by lopping of trees to put up 

 grand stands, by burning up a winter's supply of fuel 

 in a midsummer blaze of bonfires ; fine shows are 

 impressing on the popular mind the wealth of the 

 Empire ; but has a single movement been made to 



preserve or add to the beauty of the homeland of 

 His Majesty ? Every county might have planned 

 its coronation reserve for national birds and animals 

 and wildflowers, its beauty-spot saved for ever from 

 spoliation by the builder, from devastation by the 

 multitude : refuges where the sorely-pressed wild 

 things of our land may have some chance for 

 survival ; remnants of unspoiled nature to tell our 

 children's children that something other than 

 crowds and feast and flare and cinematograph films 

 was associated with the crowning of a king in 1911. 



NATIONAL RESERVATIONS. 



The paper read at the Graz Zoological Congress by 

 M. Paul Sarasin in August last, and now published 

 in English, French and German, extends the 

 question of reserves from the local and county 

 " jorotected areas " claimed on behalf of birds and 

 even beyond the National reserve for birds and 

 beasts urged on Great Britain, to " global protec- 

 tion." The object of this is to secure " a tract of 

 land, stretching across the whole of Europe, even 

 over the globe " where no single animal or j^lant 

 shall be destroyed ; the ocean as well as the land to 

 have its sacred areas. It does not appear that this 

 tract need necessarily be continuous, but every 

 country is to have a region where nature shall be 

 untouched, in order that some creatures may escape 

 the fury of persecution which now threatens to 

 sweej) whole races off the earth. M. Sarasin refers 

 to the imminent extermination of bison and whale, 

 and to the gigantic sacrifices of the finest species of 

 exotic birds and furred animals " to pander to the 

 vanity of women." Where no national commission 

 undertakes the duty, an international body is to step 

 in. A provisional committee was formed at the 

 Congress. Dr. Scharff represents Ireland ; Great 

 Britain is seemingly unre^jresented. 



NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOLS. 



A Bill to provide for the teaching of agricultural 

 subjects and natiu-e study in Elementary Schools 

 was brought into the House of Commons by Mr 

 Jesse Ceilings this Session. Among the subjects 

 recommended in one clause for educational collec- 

 tions were " specimens of animals, birds, insects." 

 In view of the second reading of the Bill on April 28th, 



