January 



DURING the last session of Parliament (1901) I was asked 

 by a well-known naturalist to move the Home 

 Office to interfere with the wholesale slaughter pli g ht of 

 of crossbills on a certain estate in the north British 

 of Scotland. Although I was distressed to hear 

 of the destruction of a beautiful and interesting bird, 

 whereof the splendid flame colour on head and breast 

 fades, sooner or later, after death to a greenish ashen hue, 

 I felt unable to comply with my friend's request by reason, 

 first, that the Home Office does not interfere in Scottish 

 local government ; and, second, that the Wild Birds Pre- 

 servation Act of 1894 was specially designed to commit to 

 County Councils the responsibility for protecting such 

 species as the interests and special features of different 

 districts rendered it desirable to encourage. But know- 

 ing the owner of the estate in question to be a genuine 

 lover of nature, little likely to sanction, still less to direct, 

 the persecution of any wild creature without good reason, 

 I took occasion to ask him the reason for the killing of 

 the crossbills. He gave one to which it was not easy to 

 demur. The owner of extensive fir woods, he has set 

 himself to intelligent and economic management of the 

 same, and is most naturally anxious to avail himself of 

 A 



