BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



3 



subject and how very strong are the prejudices and sus- 

 picions regarding every bird that comes into field or 

 garden. The ''obvious reasons" discovered by Sparrow 

 Club members would, we fear, threaten a majority of 

 our commoner species. The Board of Education should 

 surely go hand in hand with the Board of Agriculture if 

 linnets, hedge-sparrows, tits, buntings, hen chaffinches, 

 fly- catchers, and other species are not to be decimated 

 either intentionally or ignorantly ; otherwise the last state 

 of the farmer may be worse than the first. 



Goring League. 



When the County Councils have the reins of education 

 firmly in hand it may be hoped that they will do some- 

 thing definite towards the development of Nature Study 

 in schools and the establishment of Bird and Tree Day in 

 this country, since the need of educating village children 

 to see and understand the beauty and value of birdlife is 

 being more and more widely recognized. Meanwhile 

 much may be effected by local efforts, such as the Goring 

 League for the Protection of Birds, which is affiliated 

 with the Society for the Protection of Birds. The 

 League's desire is not only to enlist the sympathy of 

 children on behalf of birds, but also to teach them the 

 laws on bird protection. Lessons on the subject are given 

 in Goring National School and Alnut's Foundation 

 School, with the consent of the authorities, and prizes 

 will be awarded for the best papers written by the chil- 

 dren. The hon. treasurer is Captain Towse, V.C., and 

 the hon. secretary Miss Leigh. 



Army and Nayy Stores. 



The Society's attention was called early in the year to 

 the advertisement in the Army and Navy Stores catalogue 

 of small-bird traps, pole traps, and bird-lime. A letter 

 was accordingly sent to the manager protesting against 

 the sale of these things by the Association, and several 

 members of the Committee took the matter up en- 

 ergetically. It is satisfactory to know that as a result 

 both traps and lime have been withdrawn from the Stores 

 list. Possibly other members of the Society holding 

 shares in large business concerns might take similar steps 

 with regard to the sale at these places of " murderous 

 millinery " and bogus artificial ospreys. 



County Council Orders. 



Burton-upon-Trext has obtained an Order dated 

 April 8th, 1903. [B.C.E.F.S.] The Middlesex Order 

 has been renewed, with some additions ; dated June 4th, 

 1903. [B.C.E.F.S.] 



The Society for the Protection of Birds has an 

 exhibit of leaflets, etc., at the Greater Cork International 

 Exhibition, now open ; and Mr. J. L. Copeman is 

 arranging also to show a selection of lantern slides to 

 illustrate Nature Study Lectures. 



BIRD PROTECTION IN THE WEST 



INDIES. 



"The Agricultural News," the review of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture for the West Indies, published 

 at Barbados, devotes a leading article in its issue of 

 March 14th to the protection of birds. 



"It is questionable," says the writer, "whether any 

 single crop could be grown at all if birds were to be 

 exterminated, and no other check [on insect life] sub- 

 stituted. Daily we can see the influence of birds in field 

 and garden, and it should be the duty of all connected 

 with agriculture to encourage bird life in everyway .... 

 1 Wild Birds Protection Ordinances ' have been adopted 

 in most colonies with the view of checking the destructive 

 tendency of the average peasant and small boy. There 

 should be such an ordinance in every colony, and though 

 there are ordinances existing in many parts of the West 

 Indies, they are either not enforced, or are not sufficiently 

 comprehensive. Cultivation in some colonies has absorbed 

 a large proportion of the land, rendering life harder for 

 the majority of birds. In others it is yearly spreading, 

 and thus robbing the birds of their wild haunts and 

 natural homes. There is, therefore, the more urgent 

 reason for giving every assistance to birds, for not only 

 is their natural habitat becoming every clay smaller, but 

 the area of cultivation in which their services are required to 

 guard the crops from insect attacks has steadily increased. 



"We are convinced that every colony should have, 

 and should rigidly enforce, a ' Wild Birds Protection 

 Ordinance.' This should be drafted on comprehensive 

 lines, not allowing sporting interests to outweigh the 

 needs of agriculture ; and every bird which, either 

 directly or indirectly, assists in insect destruction, should 

 be included, not only in a close season, but in absolute 

 protection, making its destruction a punishable offence. 

 This should be a part of the permanent policy of all 

 agricultural communities, and we hope that in the West 

 Indies, the force of public opinion will be steadily enlisted 

 and directed to this end." 



PLOVERS' EGGS. 



In the article on agriculture in the Times of March 30th, 

 1903, the following occurs : — "The annual raid upon the 

 eggs of the plover is again in progress ; and year by year 

 this most useful bird, second to none as a farmers' friend, is 

 becoming less and less abundant in its familiar haunts, 

 with the result that the insect and other pests upon which 

 the plover feeds increase to the detriment of the crops and 

 garden. The prices which the eggs realise, particularly 

 at the outset, are too great a temptation to farm hands ; 

 and, smart though the birds are in decoying the pilferer 

 from their eggs lying upon the bare ground, the number 

 taken every spring is nevertheless very large. The taking 

 of plovers' eggs is not illegal in England ; and hence it is 

 that the worst enemy of the wire worm, as the plover 

 is well known to be, is diminishing in numbers." 



[County Councils have it in their power to protect the 

 eggs of the plover, and this is done in several counties, 

 i.e. , in Hampshire, Lancashire and Northumberland after 

 May 1st, as well as throughout Scotland after April 15th. 

 The Settle and District Farmers' Association is endeavour- 

 ing to obtain protection for the eggs after May 1st. In 

 reply to its appeal, the Clerk of the West Riding County 

 Council wrote that his Council had on several occasions 

 brought the question to the notice of the Home Secretary, 

 but had been informed "that he has not sufficient evidence 

 that such birds are materially interfered with to the extent 

 of being exterminated." 



