264 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



And whereas doubts have arisen with respect to the 

 construction of the above-recited enactment, and it is ex- 

 pedient to remove such doubts : 



Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent 

 Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords 

 Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present 

 Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as 

 follows : 



1. The above-recited exception in section three of the 

 Wild Birds' Protection Act, 1880, shall be repealed, and in 

 lieu thereof the following enactment shall have effect : 



A person shall not be liable to be convicted under section 

 three of the Wild Birds' Protection Act, 1880, of exposing 

 or offering for sale, or having the control or possession of, 

 any wild bird recently killed, if he satisfies the court before 

 whom he is charged, either 



(1) That the killing of such wild bird, if in a place to 

 which the said Act extends, was lawful at the time when 

 and by the person by whom it was killed; or 



(2) That the wild bird was killed in some place to which 

 the said Act does not extend, and the fact that the wild bird 

 was imported from some place to which the said Act does 

 not extend shall, until the contrary be proved, be evidence 

 that the bird was killed in some place to which the said Act 

 does not extend. 



2. The Schedule to the Wild Birds' Protection Act, 1880, 

 shall be read and construed as if the word " Lark " had been 

 inserted therein. 



From these extracts the whole effect of the enactment 

 can be judged, and it is, with this help, within the power of 

 all who may be friendly disposed to the birds to assist in 

 their protection. 



Yet, simple as this " bill " is, we are constantly told it is 

 full of errors of omission and commission. Some pro- 

 fessional shooters declare its provisions may easily be evaded, 



