152 . SECTION A. GENERAL ZOOLOGY, 



(3) Gives power to forfeit traps, nets, snares, decoy birds, &c., on conviction, 

 in addition to any penalty, under any of these Acts. 



These four Acts are to be read as one, and may be quoted as the Wild 

 Birds Protection Acts, 1880 — 1896. 



IL PROTECTION OF WILD BIRDS. 

 Offences : — Any Wild Bird. During the close time : 



{a) Any person (other than the owner or occupiers of any land or his 

 authorized agent on such land) is guilty of an offence who shall knowingly and 

 wilfully shoot, or attempt to shoot any wild bird ; 



{b) Or who shall use any boat for the purpose of shooting, or causing to 

 be shot, any wild bird ; 



{c) Or who shall use any lime, trap, snare, net, or other instrument for the 

 purpose of taking any wild bird ; 



{d) Or who shall, after March 15th, offer or expose for sale or have in his 

 possession or control, any wild bird recently killed or taken. 



Offences : — Scheduled Wild Birds. During close time, or the further 

 period which may be fixed under the Act of 1896, it is an offence for any person, 

 including the owner or occupier of land and his agent, to commit any of the 

 acts enumerated in respect of "any wild bird." 



The penalties are to be recovered under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, 

 and all informations must be laid within six months. 



A special Act was passed in 1888 with reference to the Sandgrouse (51 & 52 

 Vict. c. 55), under which any person who shall kill, wound or take or expose or 

 offer for sale any Sandgrouse, killed or taken in the United Kingdom, shall be 

 liable, on conviction, to a penalty of ^i for every bird. 



III. "SCHEDULED BIRDS." 



The original list of about one hundred birds appears in the Schedule to the 

 Act of 1880, but power has been given under the Act of 1894 for orders to be 

 made so that other birds may have the special protection " as if such species 

 were included in the Schedule to the Act." 



IV. CLOSE TIME. 



By the Act of 1880 the close time for scheduled birds was fixed as between 

 1st March and ist August in each year. Power, however, was granted to 

 vary the close time locally, and this varies in different districts between the 

 maximum of February ist to October ist, and the minimum (Essex) March isth 

 to August 1st. 



Under the Act of 1896 the following further period has been granted for 

 Middlesex, viz., October ist to February ist, for forty-seven birds, many of 

 whom are migrants. This in effect gives protection to these birds all the year 

 round. 



V. PROTECTION OF EGGS. 



Applications may be made by County Councils to the Secretary of State for 

 an order to prohibit 



(i) The taking or destroying of wild birds' eggs in any specified place or 

 places ; 



(2) The taking or destroying the eggs of any specified kind of wild bird 

 within a county, or county borough or any specified place. 



It is incumbent on the Council applying to specify 

 ia) The limits of the place or places or otherwise ; 



