Azotes and Comments. 263 



THORBURN's ' BRITISH MAMMALS.' 



Close upon the heels of the first volume of this sumptuous 

 work appears volume 2, which in every way equals the first 

 one in the character of its letterpress and the charm of the 

 illustrations. Mr. Thorburn's illustrations of the Black 

 Rat in this volume are of particular interest to northern 

 naturalists, while the various species of Vole, Hare and Deer 

 are illustrated in his inimitable manner. The Mammals 

 include the Whale, Porpoise and other marine species, and 

 we find illustrations of these, though on account of the neces- 

 sarily great reductions in sizes, we do not like these quite so 

 well as the representations of the land Mammals. 



A HAWK RING. 



In The Naturalist for March 1914 we illustrated a pair of 

 silver Hawk rings which had been found on the Humber shore. 

 The Hull Museum has now acquired a further ring, in silver. 



evidently of the same period as the other. The present example 

 is engraved ' Sr Arthur Chichester' on one side, and ' Lo 

 Deputie ' on the other. Sir Arthur Chichester was Deputy 

 Lord of Ireland in 1604. 



THE PLUMAGE BILL. 



We learn from the Secretary of the Plumage Bill Group 

 that ' the first four sittings of the Committee showed the 

 opposition that it was beaten, and it came to terms in May. 

 The " concessions " we gave them will not save the wretched 

 feather traders, but they do save the honourable gentlemen 

 who have fought against us from acknowledging themselves 

 utterly beaten. We have allowed them nine months, instead 

 of six, as the period to intervene between passing the Act and 

 the Act coming into force. We have also agreed to the estab- 

 lishment of a committee to advise the Board of Trade as to 

 the possibility of adding to the schedule of the Bill the names 

 of any other birds, besides Ostrich and Eider-duck, whose 

 plumage may be imported. The committee will consist of 

 10 members, of whom 3 will represent the trade interest, 

 2 will be ornithologists, and the other 5 will be independent 

 persons appointed by the Board of Trade. In short, we may 

 expect that 7 of the 10 will be, generally speaking, on the 

 side of the bird protection. The Bill went safely through 

 its final stages in the House of Commons in June. There 



1921 Aug. 1 



