Correspondence.



169



2 Macacus Monkeys, 1 Ocelot, 1 Galago, 2 Paccas, 2 Genets,

1 Harnessed Antelope, 7 Tabulated Tortoises, and a few other odds

and ends.


I need hardly say that in every case there were eager

purchasers waiting, and there is every indication of a sustained

market for the next two years.


I have cablegrams flying about, and hope to receive at least

a few more consignments during the next few months.


In regard to my Senegal shipment, it was a failure in that

there were a number of cases of birds washed overboard just after

leaving Senegal. The venture, however, was a financial success

owing to the high prices realized for all birds arriving.—With kind

regards, yours sincerely,


H. E. Rogers.


[We were indeed delighted to publish the above. Mr. Rogers’

letter comes like a sunburst after the dark years that are past.—G. R.]



THE STATE PROTECTION OF BIRDS.


124 Beckenham Hoad,


Beckenham, Kent.


May 2, 1919.


Dear Dr. Renshaw, —Although I consider Dr. Collinge’s

article on the Protection of Wild Birds a useful addition to the

published literature on the subject, I do not agree with him that

birds or any other insect-eaters are of much use in reducing the

numbers of the Magpie (Gooseberry or Currant) Moth, because the

caterpillars and apparently also the chrysalides and imagines of that

moth are rejected by most, if not all, British birds, lizards, frogs, and

spiders (see my observations referred to by Darwin in his Descent

of Man, 2nd ed., p. 500 and elsewhere), though some foreigners have

been known to devour them.


Then, again, I am not at all satisfied of the advantage of

preserving the House-Sparrow : it undoubtedly drives away many

more useful insectivorous birds from our flower and vegetable

gardens, jloes far more damage to plants by nipping off leaves, buds,



