BIBB NOTES ANB NEWS. 



105 



comes worthless as Nature Study, even though 

 interesting or useful information is imparted to the 

 scholars . . . 



" Certain auxiliaries in Nature Study teaching 

 merit a little examination. A number of reading- 

 books on natural history and country life have been 

 prepared, but they should be very sparingly used. 

 Reading about birds and insects and the like may 

 kindle observation, but too often becomes a substi- 

 tute for it. Natural history reading books, again, 

 have an unhappy way of repeating well-worn errors 

 and slip-shod half-truths. If a Nature Study read- 

 ing book be wanted an endeavour should be made 

 to secure one containing descriptions by original 

 observers, and not mere accounts put together by 

 a compiler." 



The suggestions are less satisfactory in regard 

 to the definite study of wild life. In the first place 

 it is laid down that — 



" Natural history itself, the study of the habits 

 of birds or insects or plants, is apt to be too 

 unsystematic, too little controlled, and lies too 

 much out of school to be a good subject, " 



and it is further stated that 



" Without doubt the collecting instinct is the 

 great motive power in natural history pursuits, 

 and most naturalists begin as collectors. If 

 collecting is repressed, interest is apt to be re- 

 pressed also. But the habit of collecting may 

 become a habit of destruction, and therefore the 

 teacher should make the nature study class his 

 opportunity for developing a respect for living 

 things, for birds' nests, and rare plants. Children 

 should pluck flowers carefully, so as not to injure 

 the plant ; boys should be content with a single 

 egg of each kind." . . . . " The collecting instinct 

 is most easily developed in smaller towns within 

 touch of the country ; the teacher can encourage 

 his boys to spend their holidays to advantage in 

 this way, provided he checks the growth of pre- 

 datory and destructive habits." 



This is true : but it too contains well-worn half 

 truths. Collecting, no less than the reading-book, 

 " may kindle observation, but too often becomes a 

 substitute for it." The best teacher of Nature 

 Study will not spend time "encouraging" the 

 collecting instinct while hoping to check predatory 

 habits, but, without " repressing " will aim at lead- 

 ing his pupils beyond the dusty little world of 

 dried collections and labels, from and through 

 observation of living things, to sympathy and 

 understanding, and from the elementary instinct 

 of acquisitiveness to a genuine interest in Life and 

 her children. But possibly this is outside the 

 lines on which Blue Books are laid. 



Two pairs of kites are stated to have safely hatched 

 young in their last remaining British breeding- 

 place in Wales this summer. 



IN THE COURTS. 



BUCKS. — A prosecution under the Pole Trap Act 

 of 1904 was dealt with by the Wycombe magistrates 

 on October 13th. Harris Gomm, of Flint Hall 

 Farm, West Wycombe, was summoned for using 

 the pole-trap near his pheasant pens. He said it 

 was there for the destruction of jackdaws, owls, 

 magpies, and other wild birds, and pleaded igno- 

 rance of the law. Supt. Summers read an extract 

 from a letter received from the Royal Society for 

 the Protection of Birds, asking that enquiry might 

 be made into the matter, and proceedings in- 

 stituted if necessary, in order to make the law 

 better known. He only wanted the case to act as 

 a warning to others. Defendant was accordingly 

 let off on paying costs. 



Cheshire. — Two men charged by the police at 

 Chester Castle, on September 9th, with shooting 

 curlews on the Dee, were dismissed because the 

 Bench were unaware that these birds were pro- 

 tected by the Cheshire County Council Order. On 

 the following Saturday it was explained that the 

 bye-law produced in Court was not the latest, and 

 that "after a search" a 1904 bye-law had been 

 discovered by which the shooting of wild birds of 

 every kind on the Dee and Mersey is prohibited. 

 The bye-law, added the magistrates' clerk, was 

 passed " not so much in the interests of birds, but 

 in the interest of the navigation of the river." 



Suffolk. — Samuel George Pritchard, a Col- 

 chester bird-catcher, was convicted at Samford, 

 on October 3rd, of having a number of newly- 

 caught goldfinches in his possession. He admitted 

 setting nets and taking the birds, but said he 

 thought he was in Essex. Fined £1. 



Carmarthen. — At Llandilo, on November 3rd, 

 a rural postman was charged with having fifteen 

 newly-caught goldfinches in his possession. The 

 police found him carrying a small cage wrapped 

 in brown paper containing the birds, which had 

 their wings tied ; he gave various explanations as 

 to how he came by them. There was much con- 

 troversy in Court upon the laws and bye-laws, in 

 the course of which the clerk declared that if the 

 Bench read all the Acts on the matter they would 

 have a headache. The summons was dismissed, 

 but the police were instructed not to let the matter 

 drop. 



Derby.— At Derby Police Court, on October 

 9th, a bird-catcher was fined 5s. and costs for 

 cruelty to decoy linnets, which had their wings 

 and legs cut by cords. Defendant said he must 

 do something for a living. 



Kent. — Four Hoo men were charged at Rochester 

 on October6th with catching linnets and with cruelty 

 to decoy birds. They had the decoys in cages in a 

 gravel pit. Three denied being there to catch 

 birds, and the other said that they had not suc- 

 ceeded in catching any. The magistrates con- 

 tented themselves with fining two of them 2s. 6d. 

 and costs each for the cruelty, leaving defendants 

 in possession of the birds. — At Mailing, on Septem- 

 ber 1 8th, the Bench fined a bird-catcher £2 and 

 10s. costs for cruelty to a decov linnet, the Chair- 



