BIRD NOTES 



mo NEWS. 



Circular fetter issued |Jcriociicnll|T bit trje 

 ^ocictn for tlie protection of fBiros. 



CONTENTS. 



barter of Incorporation, 

 be Osprey iu Surrey, 

 ird Protection in India, 

 otes — 



The Fauna of Australia. 



Cape Colony. 



The Seagull. 



Nesting-Boxes. 



Pigeon Houses on the Nile. 

 luuie Sales. 

 mall Birds in Italy. 



The Thief and the Possessor. 

 Bird and Tree County Com- 

 petitions — 



Cumberland. 



Bedfordshire. 



Hampshire. 



Westmorland. 



Berkshire. 

 Council Meeting. 

 In the Courts. 

 Notices. 



OSPREY. 



No. 8.] 



London, 3, Hanover Squarp:, W. 



[DECEMBER, 1904. 



Cljartcr of Incorporation. 



iT the meeting of the Privy Council 

 on October 24th, 1904, His Majesty 

 the King was pleased to grant a 

 Charter of Incorporation to the 

 Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 under the name of The Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds. 



THE OSPREY* IN SURREY. 



The case of the Osprey recently shot at 

 Cranleigh in Surrey, which has attracted much 

 attention in lay as well as ornithological quarters, 

 is in every respect a representative and instruc- 

 tive one. The facts are briefly these : 



The Osprey or fish-hawk, one of the few 

 grand species left to our country, is now so 

 near extinction that its only British breeding- 

 places, in the Highlands, have to be watched 

 with the utmost vigilance in order to protect the 

 few birds that return to Scotland year after 

 year, and save them from the cupidity of the 

 collector. The owners of two estates on which 



* This bird must not be confounded with the Egrets and Herons 

 that furnish the so-called " osprey " plumes of the milliner. 



the birds build have been awarded the medal 

 of the Zoological Society of London in 

 recognition of their care of these precious 

 visitors. The ospreys pass over England on 

 their migrations, but it is not known whether 

 the bird which appeared at Cranleigh belonged 

 to the Scottish ospreys or to the stragglers from 

 the Continent which annually visit our shore. 



The Osprey was seen at Vachery Lake, near 

 Cranleigh, for about a fortnight in September. 

 Its magnificent appearance brought many 

 interested sightseers to enjoy the unwonted 

 pleasure of watching the great bird sailing 

 in the air or dropping swiftly and power- 

 fully down upon its prey — a strange and fasci- 

 nating spectacle over a quiet Surrey water. 

 Then it vanished. Its next appearance was as 

 a stuffed " specimen " in a bird-stuffer's shop at 

 Guildford. The Society for the Protection of 

 Birds at once placed itself in communication 

 with the Royal Society for the Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Animals and with the Surrey Con- 

 stabulary ; the investigation and prosecution 

 were undertaken by the former ; and at the 

 Guildford Bench, on October 22nd, the keeper 

 on the Vachery estate was fined for having 

 killed the bird, and his employer, the estate- 



Ulustrntion from Mr, Howard Sai-n-dicr's " Manual of British Birds." 



