9 o OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



hopper warblers. Is the honey buzzard so com- 

 mon or so harmful as to be necessarily left out in 

 the cold ? What sins of commission are to be 

 laid at the door of the shrike ? Care has been 

 taken, and rightly so, too, to mention the spoon- 

 bill, which at one time used to breed on the south- 

 eastern portions of this country, but is now so 

 rare a visitor that it can scarcely be called a 

 British bird ; but the golden oriole and the 

 hoopoe are as carefully omitted. In addition to 

 these, there are numerous other birds whose 

 names have been passed over, and yet which 

 should surely have been included. I cannot 

 understand why so many should have been left 

 unprotected, and amongst them those which, it 

 might have been presumed, it would have been 

 most desirable to guard from molestation, and by 

 every means to encourage. Be this, however, as 

 it may, the Act, despite the brevity of the lists of 

 names in the schedule, would have been better 

 than nothing had its due observance been more 

 rigidly enforced. But, alas ! like so many of its 

 Parliamentary relations, it has been permitted to 

 drop into disuse and abeyance, and so is infinitely 

 worse than no Act at all, inasmuch as offenders, 

 knowing that they can break it with impunity, 

 scarcely hesitate to do so. When, may I ask, 

 does the notification of a prosecution for offence 

 against this Act appear in any of our local news- 

 papers ? Our rural policemen are well aware that 

 the Act is constantly infringed, and are often 



