35 



districts within a county, often vary enormously in their physical 

 features and in their agricultural conditions, and consequently 

 present various problems of economic ornithology. But local 

 Councils should always act in such matters on competent advice 

 of those who are acquainted, not only -uith the needs of the county 

 or district in question, but also with the position in regard to 

 bird-protection in the neighbouring counties. Moreover, an 

 ideal system should be elastic, so as to enable alterations to be 

 made when and where required. For the number and dis- 

 tribution of any given species are liable to considerable variation 

 mthin a comparatively short space of time. We are constantly 

 hearing sad accounts of the disappearance of tliis or that bird 

 from some district in which it was once common, but there are 

 other species which are undoubtedly increasing, and these are 

 not always bu'ds which can be considered useful to agriculture. 



Let us consider, as an example, the case of the Ha\vfinch, 

 which not long ago was looked upon as an autumn or Avinter 

 visitor to the British Isles. Whether, on account of its supposed 

 rarity or otherwise, the Hawfinch has been given a special close 

 time in many parts of England, and its eggs have also been 

 protected in many districts. Now, though this bird takes a 

 certain number of caterpillars and insects, cliiefly for feeding its 

 young, the damage it does to green peas is astounding, while 

 there is also unanswerable evidence of the great havoc A\T0ught 

 by it on apples, pears, damsons and nuts. A well-known 

 authority says : " There certainly does not seem any evidence 

 to entitle it to the protection afforded it by some County 

 Councils."* We have rarely heard a good word said for the 

 Hawfinch by the gardener who has received visits from it. 

 Speaking of its ravages on the kitchen garden, Mr. Wliitaker 

 says : "I don't hesitate to say, and I speak from experience, 

 that where peas are not protected, or birds not shot, fully half 

 the crop will be taken." f And yet, possibly to a certain extent 

 on account of protective legislation, the Ha\\'finch has increased 

 enormously in numbers and has also increased its range. To 

 the west it is rapidly spreacUng through Wales, while to the north 

 it has now extended as a breeding species to Northumberland, 

 where it was first found nesting in 1901, and even to Scotland, 

 where its nest was discovered in 1903 near Newport in Fife. 

 When it is possible for the status of a species to completely alter 

 in the course of a few years, the advisability of giving local bodies 

 a certaLa amount of latitude, within which to exercise their 

 discretion, becomes evident ; but the exercise of that discretion 



* F. V. Theobald, op. cit. See also Bulletin British Ornithologists' Club, 

 Vol. XXIII, p. 24. t J- Whitaker, op. cit., p. 86. 



