SUPPLEMENT TO BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



Ill 



collections, or trust to books. The difficulty was 

 best met by developing another instinct, that of 

 curiosity, and thus bringing back the boy to the 

 nest, not to destroy or collect, but in the spirit of 

 sympathy and enquiry. Leaflets were of little use. 

 The Society's Bird and Tree Competitions were an 

 entirely right method, but so far, owing to lack of 

 funds, they were confined to elementary schools 

 and to certain counties. He would like to see them 

 extended to secondary and especially to preparatory 

 schools, where games were not so greatly in the 

 ascendant, and where the masters in walking out 

 with the boys had so much opportunity for direct- 

 ing nature study. A list of questions similar to 

 that in use might be set, and a leaflet showing the 

 principles on which they should proceed, and a 

 bibliography of useful books prepared ; but he 

 should be inclined to leave the detail exceedingly 

 elastic, that masters and mistresses might carry out 

 their own methods. He believed the masters were 

 quite ready to help if they knew how, and he sug- 

 gested a letter to the organ of the preparatory 

 schools, and communications, with offer of lectures, 

 to the schools themselves. 



Mr. Helme suggested that prizes might be given 

 for bird essays by children in connection with 

 local flower shows, and these prize essays pub- 

 lished in the parish magazine. — The Chairman 

 described the working of the Society's Bird and 

 Tree Competitions, two of the handsome challenge 

 shields given to winning schools being exhibited 

 on the platform. 



Mr. Masefield showed some excellent model 

 eggs recommended for the formation of school and 

 other collections. After much experiment a manu- 

 facturer in the Potteries had hit upon the right 

 material, and was prepared to make models of 

 every British egg if a guarantee fund of ^20 was 

 raised. — Mr. L. Mellersh (Cheltenham) drew atten- 

 tion to the lack of good coloured prints of birds for 

 the use of schools, and advocated the formation 

 of a special committee to enquire into the cost, etc., 

 and a special fund to deal with it, believing that 

 such plates would ultimately pay for their produc- 

 tion. — The Chairman said these things had been 

 thought of years ago, but they were a matter of 

 funds, and the funds did not exist. The question, 

 however, should again receive consideration. 



Acts and Orders. 



Among a number of other subjects entered on 



the programme, questions and recommendations 



with regard to the enforcement of the present Bird 



Protection laws were down to the names of Mr. 



J. H. Buxton (Ware), Miss Clifford (Bristol), Mr. J. 

 Elliot (Hoylake), Mr. T. A Coward (Bowdon), Mrs. 

 Arnold (Meopham), Mr. Ash (Headingley), and 

 Miss F. Smith (Penzance). It was contended that 

 the state of the law was insufficiently known, and 

 that the notices were often so complicated as to be 

 incomprehensible to the ordinary man ; and it was 

 asked whether the Society could not issue some 

 translation or simplification. — The Hon. Secretary 

 announced that, in reply to a letter from the 

 Society, the Home Office had undertaken to direct 

 the local authorities to send copies of new Orders 

 to the Chief Constable and the Clerks to the 

 Justices of the districts affected. — With regard to 

 the question of how to awaken in the Constabulary 

 an interest in, and a sense of their duties under the 

 Wild Birds Protection Acts, the suggestion was 

 made that it was well to be on friendly terms with 

 the local officer, and that a little acknowledgment 

 of his efforts might not come amiss. 



The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the 

 speakers and contributors of papers, and to the 

 Chairman, and with many expressions of the hope 

 that the Conference might be made an annual 

 institution. 



FISHERMEN AND GULLS. 



Failure of the sardine fishery is not the only 

 disaster [which has this year befallen the Breton 

 fishermen. The gulls and other sea birds are also 

 vanishing from the coast. This intensifies the 

 calamity, because they are valuable auxiliaries to 

 the fisherfolk. They are to him what the pointer 

 is to the sportsman. Where the shoals of sardines 

 are there do the seagulls gather in flocks, and the 

 fishing boats in the season follow their movements 

 with a confidence that is never betrayed. But 

 people with cheap shooting 'licences have of late 

 years wrought such havoc among these birds that 

 they are deserting the coast, and Brittany feels her 

 misery becoming more than complete. Petitions 

 are being signed in the province praying for legis- 

 lative prohibition of such useless slaughter. — Globe, 

 October 20th, 1905. 



Among rare birds recently shot are two Hen- 

 Harriers (now very rare birds) and a white Stork 

 near King's Lynn ; a Quail at Lopham Fen ; a 

 Buzzard near Winchester ; and a Pelican at Little 

 Eaton, Derbyshire. 



Printed by Witherby & Co., 326, High Holborn, W.C., and 

 published by the Royal Society for the Protection of Pirds, 

 3, Hanover Square, London, W., of whom copies may be obtained, 

 price 2d. each. Double numbers, 3d. 



