BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



23 



also to assist in safely guiding the Nature Study move- 

 ment, has proved costly, and must continue increasingly 

 so if fresh counties are to be taken up. But such a scheme 

 so well begun should not be suffered to drop or to remain 

 stationary. With these and many other projects on hand 

 needing funds for their accomplishment, the Society 

 appeals urgently for new and additional subscriptions 

 from all interested in the bird-life of their country. 



In Committee. 



At the October meeting of the Committee of the Society 

 for the Protection of Birds a letter on the subject of the 

 Pole Trap Bill from the Home Office, and the reply 

 thereto, were read. The reply of Lord Selborne to the 

 protest in reference to the destruction of birds on the 

 Isle of Achill was presented. A new leaflet entitled 

 "The Little Yellow Bird" was accepted and approved, 

 and an issue of 5°°° f° r immediate circulation was 

 ordered. A design for a new Christmas card with 

 calendar for 1904 was accepted, and additional picture 

 postcards sanctioned. Arrangements were made for ad- 

 judging the winners of the County Challenge Shields in 

 connection with the Bird and Tree Day Competition. The 

 steps being taken with reference to Bird Protection Orders 

 by the County Councils of Hereford, Montgomery, Yorks, 

 E. Riding, Waterford, and other counties were reported 

 and considered. The protest against the sale by auction 

 °f e gg 5 taken illegally, and the action thereon by Mr. 

 Stevens, were reported. 



TEA, COFFEE, AND BIRDS. 



From the August number of The Tropical Agriculturist, 

 the Ceylon planters' magazine, it appears that the tea 

 growers of that country are waking up — "not a day too 

 soon," says the editor — to the importance of encouraging 

 and protecting birds on the estates. Various suggestions 

 are made as to how best to attract and preserve small 

 insectivorous birds in particular, with a view of keeping 

 down caterpillar and other pests. The growing of fruit 

 trees and shrubs and of various grains is recommended. 

 "The best sanctuary of all for birds, in my opinion," 

 writes an experienced planter, " is a grove of, say, an acre 

 of trees (the greater proportion of them fruit trees, of 

 course), and shrubs, creepers, and climbers, hedges, and 

 ditches, and so forth round one's bungalow, as it is really 

 surprising how tame even the most shy birds become in 

 a blooming wilderness of this sort." Coolies and their 

 children, it is observed, should be made to understand 

 that they must not wantonly destroy nests. 



On another page of the same magazine are some notes 

 by Mr. Green, *the Government Entomologist, on the 

 lobster caterpillar, a pest which has increased with startling 

 rapidity on certain estates. The most active enemy of the 

 caterpillar is, it is stated, the common Ceylon crow, which 

 " flocked to the infested fields and gorged themselves with 

 the insects." 



So highly is the Ceylon crow valued in his native land 

 that he is being introduced into the Malay Peninsula, 

 with a view to help the planters there to deal with their 

 teeming insect enemies. Some years ago the cinchona 

 plantations of Ceylon were devastated by a specially 



destructive caterpillar. " It was easily found, and at first 

 gangs of coolies were employed to exterminate it ; but the 

 crow was the effectual cure, and in its keen pursuit of this 

 new tit-bit appeared in regions it had never previously 

 visited. When the crow came about, the ' poochi ' gang's 

 occupation was gone ; for it was unwearying in its quest, 

 and hunted around with an argus-eyed persistency." A 

 near relation of the cinchona caterpillar having turned its 

 attention to the coffee plantations of Malay, a number of 

 crows have been imported from Ceylon, and hailed as 

 friends in need by the Selangor planters. 



It is suggested that Ceylon might benefit by the intro- 

 duction of insectivorous birds from India and Australia. 



IN THE COURTS. 



The Wild Animals in Captivity Act continues to be 

 usefully employed in the case of birdcatchers' and dealers' 

 cruelty to decoy and caged birds. Among the cases 

 recently heard was one at Marlborough Street Police 

 Court, on October 21, when Susan Gaze, of Shaftesbury 

 Avenue, was summoned for causing unnecessary cruelty 

 to 60 redpolls. The birds were in a cage measuring about 



12 in. by 9 in. by 6 in. ; four were dead, and the rest in 

 a dazed condition. Defendant loudly objected that they 

 were linnets, not redpolls ; but Mr. Plowden assured her 

 that a stroke of his pen would turn them into linnets in 

 the summons, and fined her 40s. and costs. 



At Wood Green, on October 11, Charles Wilson, of 

 Shrubbery Road, was fined 10s. and costs for cruelty to a 

 linnet and a chaffinch. The birds were strung to a stick 

 close to a net, and were in an exhausted state when 

 found by the police. In a similar case in Nottingham- 

 shire, where two men were fined 12s. 6d. each for cruelty 

 to three linnets, which were tied with cords to pegs so 

 tightly that two of them died when removed, the Notts 

 Express heads its report, " Lenient fines for a cruel 

 offence." 



The taking of birds protected during the open season 

 by County Council Orders also gives much work to 

 inspectors and police ; and would give more if all offences 

 were detected. At Woolwich, on October 5, Mr. 

 Baggallay fined two Plaistow men £2 each and costs for 

 the unlawful possession of 18 chaffinches, 12 linnets, 

 three goldfinches, and two larks. The release of all the 

 birds was ordered. At the same Court four young men 

 from Peckham were fined £1 each and costs for being in 

 possession of a birdcatching net at Eltham ; the police 

 also having freed all their decoy birds, said to be worth 25s. 



At Bridgewater, on September 24, Charles Baker, of 

 Bristol, was fined £$ and costs, in default two months, 

 for having thirty goldfinches in his possession. The 

 neighbourhood was stated to be a hunting-ground of 

 Bristol birdcatchers. Birds and nets were ordered to be 

 forfeited. In the Fetcham district of Surrey, likewise, 

 birdcatching is reported to be rife ; but the local bench do 

 not take the same vigorous measures to suppress it, six 

 Londoners detected in extensive operations on September 



13 being let off with the easy fines of 2s. 6d. and is. each 

 with costs, although three of them had been in Court 

 previously for a similar offence. 



At Romsey, on September 24, John Rogers, of South- 

 ampton, was fined £3, representing 5s. a bird, for the 

 possession of 12 newly taken goldfinches, his nets and 

 other implements being forfeited. Defendant, who was 

 said to have been for twenty years in the employ of the 

 Ordnance Office, said he thought the close time was over 

 and he wanted the birds for breeding purposes ; but he 

 gave a wrong name and address to the police. 



