54 Protection of Wild Life in Yorkshire. 
Through the efforts of the Wild Birds’ Protection Committee 
of the Union, the Wild Birds’ Protection Acts, so far as they 
relate to Yorkshire, have been greatly extended, and the three 
Ridings have been brought more into line with each other. 
There is still room for great improvements in these Acts. The 
names of many species might with advantage be deleted 
altogether, as they do not breed here, in fact have never 
nested with us and are not likely to do so. Confusion arises 
also through species being mentioned several times under 
different names, names by which they are never known in 
the county. 
When, some years ago, I was asked to attend upon and 
advise the Committee of the West Riding County Council 
in these matters, with a view of extending the list of protected 
species in the Riding. I pointed out the absurdity of keeping 
this list of names on the schedule, and suggested they should 
be deleted, but I was told, ‘ we will put any name on the list 
you think ought to go on, but we will take nothing off.” I 
was too much concerned in obtaining the additions I wanted, 
to trouble unduly about the others. 
There are, as I have previously said, many influences at 
work helping to destroy our wild birds especially. Game 
preserving is responsible for the destruction of numbers of 
Hawks, Owls and members of the Crow family, and before it 
was made illegal their hateful pole traps encompassed the 
death, often with extreme and prolonged sufiering, of many 
harmless and useful birds. These traps may even now, despite 
the Act, be found in some of the more inaccessible parts. 
Cases should at once be reported to our Wild Birds’ Com- 
mittee, or if there should be an objection to this course, and I 
know circumstances make such a course difficult at times, 
at least the traps should be destroyed and made useless. 
Things, however, are not nearly so bad as formerly; many 
game preservers are only too anxious to protect all the birds 
upon their estates, and many keepers approach the problems 
connected with them in a judicial manner, anxious to preserve 
‘a friendly neutrality, a number being quite good naturalists 
who study the habtts of the creatures closely. It is the 
ignorant, thoughtless man who is content to destroy those 
mammals and birds he considers harmful, just because his father 
and jis father before him did so, that one would like. to deal 
with. One instance I may mention to show the harm done 
by men of this class. A large estate in the West Riding changed 
hands, the owner dying and being succeeded by his brother., 
Upon this estate all Owls and Hawks have been protected ever 
since I can remember, and I have had free access over it nearly 
all my life. With the change of ownership the shooting was 
let for a time, this brought new keepers, who promptly started 
N aturalist, 
