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BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



BIRD AND TREE COUNTY 

 COMPETITIONS. 



The general results of the School Competitions 

 for the Society's Bird and Tree County Challenge 

 Shields are distinctly satisfactory. The essays 

 sent in reach a remarkably high standard of 

 merit, considering the age of the competitors and 

 the comparative novelty of the scheme ; and give 

 evidence of the care bestowed on the prelimi- 

 nary study both by teachers and children. Even 

 the general complaint of the judges that the com- 

 positions are too bookish is probably to be 

 explained by anxiety to work up the subject ; 

 and as the competitors grow a little more sure 

 of themselves they will learn to trust less to 

 books and more to what they individually can 

 read and understand in Nature. One of the 

 judges writes : " I think that undoubtedly the aim 

 of the Competition, viz., that the essay should be 

 a summary of the child's own observation, has in 

 the main been well followed." So far as this is 

 true, so far is the Competition a success. It has 

 its value also in casting sidelights on bird protec- 

 tion and bird persecution in various neighbour- 

 hoods. The Challenge Shields are awarded as 

 follows : — 



Bedfordshire : Sandy (Girls') School. 



Berkshire : Buckland School. 



Cumberland : Burgh-on-Sands School. 



Hampshire : Bitterne Park (Girls') ; second 

 prize, Sandown (National) Boys'. 

 Proxime accessit, Western (Council), 

 Southampton. 



Westmorland : Warcop School. 



The judges were : Mr. Montagu Sharpe (Chair- 

 man of Council), Rev. Canon Rawnsley, M.A., 

 Rev. A. L. Hussey, M.A., Rev. J. E. Kelsall, M.A., 

 and Mr. W. H. Hudson, F.Z.S. 



The Society's Council decided to send awards of 

 books to every competing school, in the hope that 

 local residents will enter heartily into arrange- 

 ments for festivals, with tree-planting and enter- 

 tainment, such as will make a red letter day for 

 the young folk. Several festivals have already 

 taken place, but too late for any account of them 

 to appear here. 



Taking the essays altogether, a very fair variety 

 of birds and trees were selected by the children, 

 comprising 39 species of birds and 38 kinds of 

 trees. The Skylark is the bird of the year (last 

 year it was the Blackbird), with the Thrush 

 second ; and among trees the oak is most popular 



(as was the case last year), followed by the horse- 

 chestnut. 



CUMBERLAND. 

 Cumberland makes a most successful first 

 appearance on the scene this year, the general 

 level being high, though Cumberland as a county 

 is a little behind the times in the matter of bird 

 protection. Many of the schools believe that no 

 protection is afforded to any birds but game, the 

 County Council Order (which is a meagre one) 

 being evidently little known. The first name to 

 be inscribed on the Cumberland Shield is that 

 of the Burgh-on-Sands School. Their essays are 

 clear, accurate, and to the point ; the young writers 

 showing an almost anxious interest in their studies. 

 Close at their heels comes the Cargo School, where 

 the children have set to work in the right way 

 by recording their own observations, but pass 

 Draconian sentence on all fruit-eating birds ; a 

 pretty and exceptional feature is the attempt to 

 translate some of the bird-calls into sol-fa notation, 

 not an easy thing, but preferable at any rate to 

 the perpetual re-iteration of the " Cherry - tree, 

 cherry-tree" and " Little bit of bread " travesties. 

 Greystoke is distinctly promising. Lorton has 

 excellent essays on Tit and Robin, but it is a pity 

 all the children chose the same tree— the chestnut, 

 also selected by Penrith, who, however, confuse the 

 horse- and Spanish chestnuts. Stanwix, also good 

 in some points, treats House and Hedge Sparrows 

 under one head as " cousins." Kirkoswald has 

 one specially well-written essay on the Jackdaw ; 

 Calderbridge shows much careful work ; and St. 

 John's, Keswick, and Borrodaile, though now and 

 then blundering in facts, are very genuine, 

 and the outcome of little minds well worth 

 encouragement. 



BEDFORDSHIRE. 



The Bedfordshire Shield is taken by the Sandy 

 (Girls') School with a batch of essays at once 

 accurate and, in every sense of the word, nicely 

 written, doing much credit to themselves and their 

 teacher. Colmworth stands second ; the amount 

 of book-study shown here is wonderful, but unfor- 

 tunately much of it seems to be book-study only. 

 What else, indeed, could it be when a Bedfordshire 

 child selects for "observation " no less a bird than 

 the Eagle ! For simple unpretending notes, per- 

 sonal and spontaneous, the much slighter essays 

 from Leagrave and Tempsford deserve a high 

 place ; the teams have done their bird-watching 



