604 Digby Pigott : Wild Birds 



I liad hoped to have been able to draw up for the informa- 

 tion of the Congress a tabular statement of the manner in 

 which the law has been applied by statutory Orders in the 

 several counties of the United Kingdom ; but have found 

 myself obliged to give up the idea as hopeless. 



In Ireland the Orders are comparatively few and short. 

 The eggs of a few birds, notably those of the Cornish Chough, 

 are protected in a few counties ; but the Orders for the most 

 part are confined to an extension of the close time for Snipe 

 and Woodcock. The close season for Snipe is extended to 

 the 1st October in fourteen counties, and in seven of these 

 the Orders include the Woodcock also. 



In Scotland, thanks to the active interest of Lord Balfour 

 of Burleigh (when Secretary for ScotlandJ, the Orders are 

 drawn upon a uniform s} r stem. They cover the same periods 

 and vary only in points of detail. 



In the fifteen counties grouped as the Northern District, 

 with the exception of the counties of Forfar, Boss, and 

 Cromarty and Sutherland, the Golden Eagles, bird and egg, 

 are protected throughout the year, and in all but Forfar the 

 Sea Eagle also. 



In Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine and Perth the taking of 

 the eggs of (inter alia) the Pheasant is prohibited. 



It would be curious to know how gamekeepers within these 

 comities reconcile this provision with the practice of artificial 

 Pheasant rearing. 



In England, however, these Orders are so complicated and 

 confused as to render tabulation of any kind impossible. 



To take as an instance the treatment of Owls in a single 

 county. 



In Gloucestershire the Long-eared Owl is made safe, so far 

 as the law can make it so, all the year round. The Tatvny 

 and Barn Owls are protected only from the 1st March to the 

 1st August; during the period, that is, of the general close 

 time fixed by the Acts of 1880. 



The Short-eared Owl is by a special provision of the county 

 Orders protected from the 1st March to the 1st November. 



As the Short-eared Owl commonly comes over with the 

 Woodcock in the latter half of October, the practical result 

 of Gloucestershire legislation in his favour is to make it 



