BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



87 



There would not be many Linnets netted 

 if they were not saleable. Similarly, if 

 every Council would agree to place on the 

 schedule the names of a score of the country's 

 rarest species, the taking or killing of these 

 would become illegal throughout the year 

 in Great Britain ; and police, collectors, and 

 others concerned would know how they 

 stood. 



There is no space left to deal with Bird 

 Protection movements since 1896, highly 

 important as they have been. Their history 

 is recorded in the annual reports of the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 

 Four additional Acts have been added to 

 the Statute, dealing respectively with the 

 forfeiture of illegally taken birds, with the 

 Pole-Trap, with Bird Protection in St. 

 Kilda, and with the use of hooks for catching 

 birds ; in addition to two other Acts dealing 

 with animals generalh^ — the Animals in 

 Captivity Act of 1899, and the Consoli- 

 dation Act of 1911 — which aiiect birds to 

 a limited extent. In 1908 the passing of 

 the Plumage Importation Prohibition Bill 

 through the House of Lords gave splendid 

 promise of dealing trenchantly and resolutely 

 Avith a trade that disgraces the commerce 

 of this country. 



In 1899, and again in 1900, Mr. Bigwood 

 brought forward a Bill, drafted by Mr. 

 Montagu Sharpe, Avhich proposed to repeal 

 existing laws in favour of an Act protecting 

 all wild birds and their eggs from February 

 1st to September 1st, leaving it to County 

 Councils to exempt species considered locally 

 destructive or too numerous. The effect 

 of this would be that birds in general would 

 occupy the position now given only to 



those specially scheduled by Act and Order : 

 they would be completely protected in 

 Close-time, and their eggs would also be 

 protected. The '' exempted " species would 

 take the place given to-day to birds outside 

 the schedule, that is to say, owners and 

 occupiers of land would be free to destroy 

 them, but unauthorized persons would not 

 be allowed to do so. The Bill also proposed 

 to enforce Sunday protection throughout 

 the year in every county, and to empower 

 the creation of sanctuaries. 



That Bird Protection in Great Britain is 

 in a wholly satisfactory condition no one 

 can suppose. Constant reports of the des- 

 truction of rare birds, the Avholesale capture 

 of song-birds by bird-catchers, and the 

 apparent helplessness of the law to deal with 

 either destruction or cruelty ; together with 

 the prevailing ignorance and confusion in 

 the minds of all classes as to what the law 

 really is and what view of it individual 

 magistrates may take : these things are 

 patent to everyone ; while the ubiquitous 

 plume - hunter, followed by the collector, 

 tlireatens to exterminate, to all intents and 

 purposes, the most brilliant and beautiful 

 of the world's birds. It has to be remem- 

 bered, however, that the Bird Protection 

 movement in Britain is not yet fifty years 

 old. The advance of public opinion within 

 the last twenty, the last ten, even the last 

 five years has been definite and striking. 

 Given the united efforts of all who value 

 bird-life, and the time should not be far 

 distant when knowledge, common-sense, 

 sentiment, and humanity combined, procure 

 a sound, comprehensive, and comprehensible 

 Act for the protection of birds. 



^/CT 



Economic Ornithology 



jsr 



THE SEA-GULL. 



At a recent meeting of the Canterbury 

 Farmers Club (October, 1911), attention 

 Avas drawn to the agitation which is being 

 raised in some quarters to deprive the Sea- 

 Gull of protection, owing to the harm it is 

 said to do to the fishing industry. Mr. 

 Collard moved a resolution urging the con- 

 tinued protection of the birds on the ground 

 of their services to agriculture, adding that 

 the damage done to the fish was, he considered 



much over-estimated. Mr. W. Berr}- sup- 

 ported, saying that the gulls followed the 

 plough in Avinter and did no end of good. 

 The resolution was carried and it was agreed 

 to send a copy to the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries, and to try to get the support 

 of the Kent County Council. 



The allegation of serious harm to the 

 fisheries is hardly borne out by the annual 

 report of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries for 1909, just published. From 



