22 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



Berkshire and East Yorkshire. 



Berkshire gave no trouble to the judges, the essays 

 from Buckland School, Faringdon, being far and away the 

 best ; they are, indeed, exceedingly good, much above 

 the average of work to be expected from boys and girls 

 of eleven or twelve. " How very fortunate it seems," 

 remarks the lad who writes so well on the nightingale, 

 " that such an excellent songster is not of gorgeous 

 appearance, or we might possibly read in the daily papers 

 that it had become the fashion for ladies to have their 

 hats trimmed with them." Nor are the papers at all 

 priggish. The drawings are also good. Hinton Waldrist, 

 Newbury (Girls' — British), Touchen End, and Bray wick 

 will all do better when the children's powers of noticing 

 and listening are more cultivated. It is curious that in all 

 counties the song of birds is more inaccurately described 

 than their appearance ; even such familiar birds as starling, 

 robin, chaffinch, and greenfinch seem to be only half 

 heard. East Yorkshire, the judges regret to report, does 

 not come up to the standard. The competition is feebler 

 than last year's, and local friends of Nature study ought 

 to look the matter up. The 1902 winners of the Shield 

 (Salthou c e Lane School, Hull) continue to hold it, 

 Skidby stands second, and Ganton third. 



Popular Birds and Trees. 



As each young essayist chose the bird and tree which 

 he or she was to study through the summer and write 

 upon in the autumn, it is interesting to note that no 

 fewer than thirty-eight species of birds and thirty-four 

 trees are represented by the essays sent in to the Society. 

 Among birds, the robin is first favourite ; the next most 

 popular birds being, in the order named : blackbird, 

 sparrowhawk, thrush, skylark, starling, green wood- 

 pecker, swallow, and nightingale ; while others include 

 the sea-gull, cuckoo, nightjar, barn and brown owls, 

 heron, woodcock, plover, stonechat, jackdaw, jay, 

 magpie, goldfinch, and flycatcher. Among trees, the 

 national oak is the most frequently chosen, with ash, 

 elm, hazel, lime, and horse chestnut coming next ; but 

 beech, walnut, sycamore, yew, acacia, elder, holly, 

 mulberry and other fruit trees, birch, alder, white and 

 Normandy poplars, and even monkey-puzzle, are also 

 on the list. It is probable that next year (when Bed- 

 fordshire is to be added to the list of competing 

 counties) the conditions of the competition will be 

 somewhat altered and simplified, and the Committee 

 will gladly receive suggestions from teachers and others 

 interested who are acquainted with the present regu- 

 lations. 



Nature Study Exhibition. 



One of the handsome Bird and Tree Silver County 

 Challenge Shields was a conspicuous feature on the 

 Society's stall at the Home Counties Nature Study 

 Exhibition, held in Burlington Gardens, October 30th 



to November 2nd. Among the Society's exhibits were 

 also nesting boxes and bird shelters, lantern slides, and 

 specimens of various publications. As was the case 

 at the larger show at the Botanic. Gardens last year, 

 evidence of bird-study occupied generally but a small 

 place on the tables and in the many nature note-books 

 sent in, as compared with botany and entomology ; the 

 school which takes the Hampshire Shield — Sandown — 

 showed in the school section some interesting illustra- 

 tions of its observations of bird and insect life ; paintings 

 of eggs happily took the place of nests and "clutches" ; 

 and birds formed the subject of three lectures, given 

 by Mr. Kearton, Mr. Oliver Pike, and Mr. Lodge 

 respectively. 



The Police and the Acts. 



A correspondent of the Naturalist Editor of the York- 

 shire Weekly Post (October 24th) recounts how a young 

 policeman boasted to him of the success with which he 

 acted as intermediary between a " man with a gun " 

 and a local bird-stuffer in want of kingfishers. " This 

 intelligent officer," says the writer, "did not appear 

 to have the slightest idea that he had been guilty not 

 only of a dastardly act, but of an illegal one, and he was 

 not a little astonished and alarmed when I informed 

 him that if he got his young friend to shoot a kingfisher 

 or any other protected bird I would instantly take 

 proceedings against both of them." This is no doubt 

 an extreme case, but it is certain that one reason why 

 the law in some places remains so nearly a dead letter 

 is that the police do not understand it. For this 

 reason the Society for the Protection of Birds is anxious 

 to provide police-stations with literature calculated to 

 rouse interest in and give information on the subject. 

 Anyone wishing to assist in this direction can have 

 their local station supplied with a bound volume of our 

 Educational Series of Leaflets, together with Acts and 

 Orders, with notes and explanations, and the Order 

 in force in the district, by forwarding half-a-crown to the 

 head office. 



Ways and Means. 



A free provision of literature to the police would have 

 effects at least as important as the issue of publications 

 to the coastguard, which the Society was enabled to 

 undertake in the spring, by consent of the Admiralty, 

 with results already discernible. The outlay attending 

 this effort, however, was made possible by the donations 

 given to the Watchers' Fund. It was hoped that the 

 subscriptions, both special and general, would this year 

 have sufficiently increased to justify the issue of instructions 

 to the police ; the employment of watchers or wardens 

 on the lines adopted by the Audubon Societies of the 

 United States ; and the continuation of the educational 

 leaflets. The Bird and Tree Day scheme started in 1900, 

 in order not only to encourage a study and interest which 

 must immensely broaden and brighten life's outlook, but 



