5IRD N 

 NEWS. 



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CONTENTS. 



Bird Protection in "Winter. 

 The Pole-Trap. 

 Binl Protection in Egypt. 

 Notes — News from Abroad. 



Prosecutions. 



Nature Study. 



Bird Shelters. 



Winter Millinery. 



OCTOBER, 1903. 



Bird Protection in India. 

 Muirbum. 



^-collecting by Schoolboys 

 Preservation of "Woodcock. 

 The Law and the Collector. 

 Birds released in London. 

 Books versus Grubs. 

 News from Branches. 

 In the Courts. 

 Lecture Season, 1903-4. 



London, 3, Hanover Square, W. 



BIRD 



IN 



PROTECTION 

 WINTER. 



TATUTORY Close Time for wild birds 

 ends on the 1st day of August. A con- 

 siderable number of counties have pro- 

 longed the period to the 1st day of 

 September, the earlier date being far 

 too early for the proper protection of 

 late-breeding species. In Ireland and 

 Wales, in a few exceptional cases, the season ex- 

 tends a little longer still ; but by October 1st the 

 Close Time has everywhere come to an end, with 

 the solitary exception of Gloucestershire, where 

 the Woodpecker, Short-eared Owl, Hoopoe, and 

 Redpoll are guarded until November 1st. 



There remain two methods by which bird pro- 

 tection may in Great Britain be continued through 

 the winter months. Under the Act of 1896 (which 

 does not apply to Ireland), County Council Orders 

 may prohibit the killing or taking of particular 

 kinds of wild birds during the whole or any part of 

 the year to which close time does not extend, and 

 also the killing or taking of all wild birds in 

 particular places within that period. The latter 

 clause admits of the formation of bird sanctuaries, 

 where all the year protection can be established 

 for all birds within a defined and limited area, and 

 also of the provision, more commonly adopted, 

 prohibiting all shooting and netting of birds on 

 Sundays in specified districts (which can be made 

 to comprise an entire County Council area). The 

 former clause is generally utilised for the protection 

 during the whole of the open time — thus practically 

 affording protection all the year — of those birds 

 which it is especially desirable to preserve on 

 account of their utility, rarity, or beauty. 



The "further" or all-the-year protection clause 

 forms a part of the Orders of thirty-one counties 

 and nine county boroughs in England and Wales 

 and of all the Orders in force in Scotland. Of the 

 376 birds on the British Ornithologists' Union list 

 of British species no fewer than 150 are given this 

 winter protection in the Order for some part or 

 other of Great Britain. To ascertain which of 

 them are most widely selected we may take those 

 species which are on the lists of ten or more coun- 

 ties of England and Wales. These number 26 

 and are as follow : — 



Goldfinch, protected throughout the year in 31 

 counties ; Kingfisher, 29 ; Owls, 24 ; Woodpeckers, 

 22 ; Buzzard, 18 ; Goldcrest, Nightjar, 16 ; Wren, 

 Honey Buzzard, Bittern, 15 ; Swallow, 14 ; House- 

 Martin, Kestrel, Osprey, 13 ; Bearded Tit, Sand- 

 Martin, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Yellow Wag- 

 tail, Hobby, Merlin, Great Crested Grebe, 12 ; 

 Wheatear, Nightingale, 11 ; Linnet, Hoopoe, 10. 



It will be seen that of these 26 birds, ten are 

 migrants, in whose case " all the year " means 

 merely the addition of a month or two's protection 

 between the end of the close time and their 

 departure from our shores. Five are vanishing 

 species, which cultivation or the collector have 

 driven to the confines of extinction. 



Nine out of the 26 are species scheduled by the 

 Act for protection from owners and occupiers as 

 well as from the general public throughout the 

 kingdom, and these may be accordingly considered 

 the most fully protected birds in England — the 

 Goldfinch, Nightjar, Woodpecker, Kingfisher, 

 Hoopoe, Owl, Bittern, and Grebe. None of these 

 may be killed or taken by any person at any time 

 of the year, in the number of counties respectively 

 given above. 



