EDITORIAL NOTES 3 



furnished to the Secretary for Scotland, they may recom- 

 mend the inclusion of persecuted birds in the list of those the 

 taking of which is prohibited throughout the whole year. 

 But such inclusion must be followed by rigorous application 

 of the law, if the step is to be productive of results of any 

 value ; or, on direct evidence of cruelty to braced birds, 

 the police or the inspectors of the Royal Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals may institute a prosecu- 

 tion under the Protection of Animals Act of 1911. 



But even these safeguards are not sufficient, and in view 

 of the failure to become law of Sir Harry Brittain's bill for 

 the further protection of wild birds (see Scottish Naturalist, 

 1 92 1, p. 97), we look to the adoption in future legislation 

 of the recommendations of the Departmental Committee on 

 the Protection of Wild Birds, 1919, that the use of braced 

 birds, of maimed or blinded decoy birds, and of bird-lime, 

 be prohibited under satisfactory penalties, and that bird- 

 catching in general be supervised by the institution of an 

 annual licence required to be held by each bird-catcher ; 

 and this after all would only be following the lead of the 

 International Paris Convention of 1902. 



In Ilhcstrated Sporting and Dramatic News iox 27th August 

 last, in The Scotsman for the 24th of December, and in British 

 Birds for January 1922, there appeared accounts of the 

 nesting of a pair of Whooper Swans in the Scottish High- 

 lands. Their retreat had been discovered, and a "hide," 

 constructed on the island on which the nest was situated, 

 was placed only fifteen feet from the sitting-bird. The 

 birds were clearly perturbed by the intrusion of an observer 

 and photographer into their sanctuary at a time when they 

 were sitting closely upon a clutch of four eggs. The watch- 

 ing and snap-shotting came to an end with the second day's 

 proceedings. Whether obvious harm was done to the 

 potential brood or not, it is to be regretted that these 

 Whooper Swans, perhaps the only pair nesting in a wild 

 state in the British Isles, should have been in any way 

 molested — the risk that disaster might follow was too great. 



