BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



31 



M It is probably not so well known that the Northern 

 species has also been semi- domesticated. Several years 

 ago the French started ostrich farms, and others are being 

 established by Englishmen in Uganda. There is, or was, 

 a very fine and flourishing farm at the little village of 

 Zeralda, near Algiers ; there is also a smaller one close to 

 Algiers itself, and this I visited in June, 1903, last. 



" The Algiers farm is easily reached from the town by 

 steam tram, and is at the northern end of that magni- 

 ficent tropical garden, the Jardin d'Essai. Although 

 famous enough to be mentioned in the guide books, the 

 birds are very much fewer in number than one would 

 have supposed ; neither did inspection seem to be invited, 

 for their enclosure was almost hidden by a thick outer 

 hedge and might easily be overlooked by a stranger. 

 Each bird has the free range of a large yard, which is 

 surrounded by a breast-high fence. Shelter is provided 

 by an open shed, which is little more than a thatched 

 roof supported on stout poles. Probably this is all that 

 is required under the turquoise sky of Algiers, where 

 palms and bamboos flourish out of doors all the year 

 round, and where, after all, the ostriches are in their native 

 Africa. The birds were in good condition and apparently 

 well cared for. The male was a fine bird in his jet-black 

 and snow-white plumage, which contrasted smartly with 

 the dull brown feathers of the females. 



" Wild killed ostriches of the Northern species are 

 worth about £1$ or ^20 if in good plumage, so that if a 

 sufficient number of healthy birds could be obtained, the 

 success of English breeders at the Cape might be repeated 

 by French aviculturists in Algeria. It appears, however, 

 that the Northern ostrich is gradually receding further 

 and further into the desert, not being found until lat. 17 

 is reached. During my recent trip to the Sahara I saw 

 no ostrich eggs, skins, or even feathers in the Arab 

 market at Biskra, though plenty of gazelle horns were 

 displayed on the stalls, and even the spoils of the rare 

 addax antelope were offered for sale. It would therefore 

 appear that the future of ostrich-farming in North Africa 

 is far from promising, unless the stock can be reinforced 

 by southern examples imported from the Cape." 



SCHOOLS AND EGG-COLLECTIONS. 



It has been the custom at Felsted School to give 

 a prize for the best collection of eggs collected 

 locally every year. This has been done away with, 

 and it is proposed to substitute a prize for the best 

 photograph of birds' nests in their natural position. 



The managers of a large elementary school near 

 London have decided, at the instance of an active 

 member of the Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 to discontinue the practice of accepting for the 

 school museum eggs collected by the scholars. 



The recommendation that eggs modelled in wax 

 or other material should take the placeof the natural 

 shells in school museums, and that children should 

 be taught to make such models, finds support in 

 the following paragraph in Professor MialFs article 

 on " Nature Study in Schools " in the March (1904) 

 number of School: — " A time will come when the 

 uses of modelling will be better appreciated than 

 they are now. This slow but particularly distinct 

 method of representing natural structures has many 



advantages of its own, and I have more than once 

 solved, by means of models, little problems which 

 would yield to no other means." A leading diffi- 

 culty in the matter has been the want of a suitable 

 substance for children to work ; but one of the 

 Society's Hon. Local Secretaries writes : — 



" I hope I am now on the right track for model 

 birds' eggs to be painted by children in elementary 



schools I think if we can get this to succeed 



it will stop a good deal of egg pilfering." 



The rules of membership of the flourishing 

 natural history society connected with Tiffin's 

 Endowed School, Kingston - on - Thames, render 

 obligatory the keeping of note - books and the 

 making of collections. Birds' eggs, however, are 

 not recognized as collections for the purpose. 



" Many a collector," says the Reigate Grammar 



School Magazine — 



" would object to be called cruel and selfish, probably 

 he would still more strongly object to be called ignorant — 

 yet he is all three. Ignorant in supposing that no harm 

 is done by the taking of eggs ; cruel in wantonly destroying 

 life ; and selfish because in giving himself a little feeble 

 satisfaction, he is doing away with a source of pleasure to 

 hundreds of others. It is difficult to understand what real 

 enjoyment an egg ogre gets from his collection. The 

 proud possessor of a few candle boxes, containing forty 

 or fifty kinds of eggs, badly arranged, unidentified and 

 wrongly labelled, or, still more, the owner of a cabinet in 

 all its glory, would, doubtless, call himself a naturalist, 

 yet he has as much claim to the title as the old woman 

 who goes daily to look under the cow manger for the 

 latest production of her Cochin China. If he were half 

 as harmless naturalists would be thankful." 



IN THE COURTS. 



Several bird-catching cases have been brought 

 before the Brighton magistrates of late by the 

 R.S.P.C.A., the wholesale netting of song-birds in 

 the neighbourhood having been a matter of much 

 complaint. On January 5th George Goddard was 

 fined is. per bird and costs for being in possession 

 of 36 newly-taken linnets. He had a box cage 

 crowded with wild linnets tied up in a handker- 

 chief, and a bag of dead birds. The same penalty 

 was imposed on H. Dine, sen., and H. Dine, jun., 

 for the possession of 48 linnets ; the men were 

 carrying bird-nets and poles. 



A similar summons was heard on January 27th 

 against Wilfred Swaysland and John Boxall, for 

 the possession of 26 larks and 96 linnets. The 

 solicitor for the defence raised the point that the 

 possession of wild birds was prohibited only after 

 March 15th, the Act under which the prosecution 

 was taking applying only to killing and taking, 

 and making no mention of possession. The case 

 was adjourned to February 13th, when Mr. Polhill, 

 for the R.S.P.C.A., urged that the words '"killing 

 or taking" were used in the Act in a comprehensive 

 sense, and included the offence mentioned in the 

 summons. The magistrates decided that they 



