10 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



Other birds protected throughout the twelve- 

 month in a lesser number of English counties, but 

 in more than six in each case, include the Robin, 

 Nuthatch, Whinchat, Stonechat, Redstart, Chiff- 

 chaff and other warblers, Flycatchers, Siskin, 

 Crossbill, Reed and Cirl Buntings, Woodlark, 

 Swift, Wryneck, Chough, Kite, Cuckoo, Oriole, 

 Spoonbill, Stone-Curlew, and Kittiwake. Of this 

 list again a considerable proportion are migrants 

 who do not remain with us to enjoy the protec- 

 tion accorded them in winter. 



This winter protection is, in the case of resident 

 birds, one of the most valuable features of the Acts. 

 By its means alone can any bird be preserved from 

 the clutches of the bird-catcher and the collector 

 during all the months from August or September 

 to February. It is, therefore, of great importance 

 that our decreasing and rare birds, even though 

 they may be but occasional visitors to a county, 

 and also those species persecuted for the cage-bird 

 trade, should be thus preserved from destruction ; 

 and such a clause, containing a carefully-compiled 

 list of species, ought to form part of every County 

 Council Order. 



Sunday protection, which is of invaluable service 

 in districts infested by the bird-catcher and the 

 week-end " sportsman," is in force in seventeen 

 counties and nine county boroughs. There seems 

 no adequate reason why it should not be adopted 

 throughout the country. 



THE POLE-TRAP. 



A Bill for the suppression of the pole-trap was 

 introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. 

 Sydney Buxton on July 28th, 1903, and read a first 

 time. Its object is to render illegal the use of the 

 pole-trap, a steel spring-trap with teeth, generally 

 fastened by a chain to the top of a pole in a clearing 

 of a wood ; and it provides that 



" From and after the passing of this Act every person 

 who, on any pole, tree, wall, fence, or other position 

 elevated from the ground, shall affix, place, or set any 

 spring, trap, gin, or other similar instrument calculated 

 to inflict bodily injury to any wild bird coming in contact 

 therewith, and every person who shall knowingly permit 

 or suffer or cause any such trap to be so affixed, placed, 

 or set, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable 

 on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding forty 

 shillings, and for a second or subsequent offence to a 

 penalty not exceeding five pounds." 



The Bill is backed by Sir John Stirling Maxwell, 

 Sir Robert Reid, K.C., Sir Edward Grey, and 

 Colonel Lockwood. 



For many years the Society for the Protection of 

 Birds, and indeed all bird lovers and humanitarians, 



have unreservedly condemned the use of this instru- 

 ment of torture and destruction, and have steadily 

 worked for its abolition. For years it has been the 

 subject of denunciatory letters and articles in the 

 daily and weekly newspapers, and an Appeal to 

 Landowners, issued by the Society in 1898, showed 

 how widely was its use condemned by game pre- 

 servers themselves, while a more recent enquiry 

 elicited the fact that it is not employed on the 

 Sandringham estate. Forming a tempting and 

 conspicuous perch, the pole-trap lures all the larger 

 birds to pause in their flight, and then, catching 

 them by the legs in the teeth of the gin, compels 

 them to flutter out their life, hanging head down- 

 ward, in agony for hours or even days. Owls, 

 hawks, cuckoos, nightjars, jays, woodpeckers, and 

 inoffensive song birds are alike the victims of this 

 detestable device ; and its use has formed, in the 

 words of Sir Herbert Maxwell, " one of the scandals 

 of game preserving." Moreover, the law protecting 

 scheduled birds is thus, to a great extent, set at 

 naught. 



As many of these traps are set up without the 

 authority of the landowner, and sometimes in direct 

 opposition to his orders, this Society has for some 

 years written to every owner of property on whose 

 estate such traps were known to be in use. All 

 correspondents who can give the name and address 

 of owners of land on which a pole-trap is erected, 

 are urgently desired to communicate with the Hon. 

 Secretary of the Society, in order that an appeal 

 for its discontinuance may be made to those in 

 authority. "It is to be hoped" (to quote the Field 

 of August 8th) " that before the advent of another 

 shooting season game preservers all over the 

 country will be justified in forbidding its employ- 

 ment as illegal." 



♦ 



BIRD PROTECTION IN EGYPT. 



A paragraph having appeared in several of the 

 daily papers in May last stating that the Egyptian 

 Government let out tracts of land near the seashore 

 to professional birdcatchers, who were thus enabled 

 to catch thousands of small birds by means of bird- 

 lime, the Society for the Protection of Birds com- 

 municated with His Excellency Viscount Cromer. 

 In reply, Lord Cromer writes that the statement is 

 absolutely untrue, and adds : — 



"The question of protecting insectivorous birds has been 

 frequently under consideration in Egypt. The difficulties 

 in dealing with the subject are unfortunately considerable. 

 They arise, broadly speaking, from the rights conferred 

 on Europeans by the Capitulations. No very effective 

 legislation in this, or in cognate matters, is possible 

 without the unanimous consent of all the Powers of 

 Europe, and experience has shown that unanimity, when 

 any legislative measure is proposed, can rarely be obtained. 



