NA TURE 



269 



CONTENTS. 



Lord Grey's Bill for the Protection of Wild Birds . 

 The Capillary Blood - Vessels. By Prof. E. H. 



Starling:, F.R.S. . • 



Thermodynamics and Chemistry .... 



A Scientific Introduction to Biology. By J. B. F. . 



Kamerlingh Onnes and his Laboratory . 



Thirty Years of Public Health Work in Manchester 



The Ichthyosaurians. Hy A. S. W. 



Our Bookshelf ....... 



Letters to the Editor :— 



Light and Electrons.— Prof. H. S. Allen 

 Continental Drift and the Stressing of Africa. — E. J. 



Wayland 



Protozoa and Virus Diseases of Plants. {Illustrated.) 



—Miss M. S. Lacey 



The Scattering of Light by Liquid and Solid Surfaces. 



—Prof. C. V. Raman 



On Continuous Radiation from the Sun — Prof. 



Megh Nad Saha 



Separation of Common Lead into Fractions of 



Different Density.— R. H. Atkinson . 

 Proposed International Survey of the Sky. — C. J. P. 



Cave and G. Aubourne Clarke 

 An Einstein Paradox : An Apology.— Prof. R. W. 

 Genese ........ 



Colour Vision and Colour Vision Theories. — Dr. 



F. W. Edndge-Green, C.B.E. 

 Stirling's Theorem. — G. J. Lidstone 

 The Growth of the Telescope. {Illustrated.) By Dr. 



William J. S. Lockyer 

 Obituary ..... 



Current Topics and Events 

 Our Astronomical Column 

 Research Items 

 The Earth's Magnetic Field for 1922. {Illmt rated.) 

 By Dr. Louis A. Bauer ..... 



Lichens and their Action on the Glass and Leadings 

 of Church Windov^s. {Illustrated ) By Dr. Ethel 



Mellor 



The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association 



By Dr Alfred Holt 



International Hydrography .... 

 The Age of the Earth. Hy Dr. Arthur Holmes 

 University and Educational Intelligence . 

 Societies and Academies ..... 

 Official Publications Received .... 

 The Life History of an a- Particle. {Ilhtstrated.) By 

 Sir Ernest Rutherford, F.R.S 



PAGE 



269 



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addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



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 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



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Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN 6- CO.. LTD., 

 ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Lord Grey's Bill for the Protection of 

 Wild Birds. 



WE ha-ve now for many years had legislation in 

 Great Britain for the protection of wild birds, 

 in addition to the much older laws relating only to 

 game. The desirability for such protection has 

 received increasing recognition on humanitarian and 

 aesthetic grounds, and it is also to be hoped that there 

 is a growing realisation of the importance of the subject 

 from an economic point of view. The different Acts 

 which have successively been placed on the Statute 

 Book have had varying merit as judged by the wisdom 

 of their intentions, but where they have all so lament- 

 ably failed is in their ineffectiveness. This grave fault 

 has been remedied in the wise measure which Viscount 

 Grey of Fallodon has introduced into the House of 

 Lords, and, although his Bill has many other good 

 points, it is probably on that ground that we should 

 chiefly welcome it. The Bill was read a third time on 

 July 30, and a copy of it, as amended in committee, is 

 before us. It is greatly to be hoped that the House of 

 Commons will similarly pass the measure next session. 

 The Bill aims at the repeal of all existing enactments 

 on the subject, and at making complete provision on 

 the new hnes recommended in 191 9 by the Depart- 

 mental Committee on the Protection of Wild Birds. 

 All birds to which the Bill applies— that is to say, all 

 wild birds other than grouse, ptarmigan, partridges, 

 pheasants, and black game — are divided into three 

 categories, each of which is to receive its appropriate 

 degree of protection, as follows : 



Category I. — Birds in this group, and their nests and 

 eggs, are to be protected absolutely at all times and 

 places. 



Category II. — Birds in this group, and their nests 

 and eggs, are to be protected absolutely during the 

 close season from the ist March to the 31st July. (The 

 Woodcock is to be protected from the ist February to 

 the 31st August, and the owners or occupiers of land 

 may take the eggs of the Lapwing thereon up to the 

 15th April.) 



Category III. — Birds in this group, but not their 

 nests and eggs, are to be protected during the close 

 season from the ist March to the 31st July except 

 against the owners or occupiers of the land concerned 

 and their accredited agents. 



The birds included in the first and second categories 

 respectively are listed in the schedules to the Bill, and 

 the third category includes all the other birds . Roughly 

 speaking, the birds in the first category are either 

 species which are relatively rare or species of great 

 usefulness, such as the owls, which it is desirable to 

 encourage. Those in the second category are species 

 which have not been considered quite worthy of the 

 first but require special protection during the breeding 



NO. 2808, VOL. 1 12] 



