APKIL 107 



stand, the local authority can arrange for its own needs ; 

 as soon as the order expires, eagles will be removed 

 from its protection, as well as ravens, peregrines, and 

 other birds of ravin, which may have become too 

 numerous. No reasonable person wants to have the 

 air darkened with destructive creatures; but most 

 people are interested in averting total extermination 

 from any bird in the British list, and the proper 

 machinery for this purpose seems to have been pro- 

 vided by Parliament. 



One word as to the powers of county councils to 

 extend protection to any species throughout the year. 

 It is a power which, with one exception, ought to be 

 reserved for special cases, such as the hoopoe, oriole, 

 ruff, and reeve beautiful birds which come to our land 

 each year with the intention of breeding, but are no 

 sooner seen than they are shot without remorse. 



The exception referred to is the lapwing or peewit. 

 It is one of the very few species of which we cannot 

 have too many, because of its unflagging industry in 

 destroying insects and molluscs on agricultural land. 

 It is incapable of doing injury to anybody, and withal 

 it is a lovely bird, and provides us with a prodigious 

 harvest of delicious eggs. Among all the fowls of the 

 air, there is not one to which the farmer ought to extend 

 a more cordial welcome, because, feeding as it does 

 exclusively on worms, insects, and molluscs, the presence 

 of a couple of hundred lapwings in a field means very 

 severe discipline among creeping pests. Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe quotes Mr. Read as having counted about 8000 



