34 



but half the leaf ones, and this year they gave the apple trees 

 a good dressing, and when the flowers were just opening the 

 ground underneath was covered "with shattered buds. Some 

 say they are taking those which have an insect in them, but I 

 think they take the buds because they hke to eat them. I find 

 the only ones left are those on the end of the thin tA^igs, wliich they 

 cannot reach."* 



It would be difficult to find a fruit-grower express any other 

 opinion. Yet the eggs of the Bullfinch are protected by Orders 

 obtained by County Councils in a considerable number of districts. 

 It is pleasant to think that it is so, for so handsome a bird is a 

 pleasure to see. But it is impossible to discover any principle 

 underlying the treatment which this and other species receive 

 in the various counties. 



In Scotland the Protection Orders show far more uniformity 

 and inteUigence than in England. There can be no doubt that 

 ^\itllin certain hmits it is desirable to have power to exclude or 

 modify the operation of a general law to meet the requirements 

 of a particular district. Tliis fact, which has been recognised, 

 as far as birds are concerned, by our Act of 1896, f had previously 

 been recognised with regard to eggs by the Act of 1894. J 



The Paris Convention contains a clause§ by which o's^Tiers of 

 \dneyards, orchards and gardens are to be allowed to shoot birds 

 which are harmful, but the right is merely to be temporary. 

 It is provided! I that exemption from the protection given by the 

 Convention may be granted in the case of birds deemed injurious 

 to sport and birds considered injurious to the agriculture of any 

 country. Apart from this, there is no special provision for partial 

 adoption or modification of the terms of the Convention. 



Nor do we find any provision for modification in the American 

 Model Law, though it is, of course, open to any State to enlarge 

 or curtail the definition of game birds which is contained in 

 Sect. (1) and to omit or add to Sect. (7), which excludes the 

 Sparrow from protection. The remarks which originally 

 accompanied the proposed law, however, urged its adoption as 

 prepared. This advice was perhaps due to the great danger in 

 allo^^ing local option to control the adoption or modification of 

 laws of this nature, o\\'ing to the crass ignorance of the average 

 persons or bodies to whom the exercise of such option is generally 

 entrusted. 



In theory such local option is excellent ; for counties, and even 



* " Xotes on the Birds of Xottinghamshire," p. 102. 



t 59 & 60 Vict., Chap. 56, Sect. 1. 



X It is interesting to compare one of the English County Orders with a 



French Departmental Decree. 

 § Article 6. || Article 9» 



