SELBORNIANA. 33 
“ ‘ I remember her, indeed,’ said the priest, ‘ but she went from me when the 
summer came.’ 
“ ‘ I am the same robin, and but for the good you did me I would not be 
alive now, and you would be deaf and dumb throughout your life. Take my 
advice now, and do not go near the hags of^the long tooth any more, and do not 
tell to any person living that I gave you the herb.’ Then she flew from him.” 
After reading this who can say that Selbornian ideas did not exist among the 
ancient Irish, even if the “exigencies of the situation” forbade the establishment 
of a Selborne Society ? P. M. 
SELBORNIANA. 
[We wish to explain that this very popular department of Nature Notes 
was not purposely curtailed last month. Several paragraphs were in type besides 
those which appeared ; but, owing to an accidental miscalculation on the part of 
our printers (usually most accurate in estimating space), they were necessarily 
omitted. Some of these, which we print now, afford internal evidence of their 
comparatively ancient date.] 
Feeding’ the Birds. — It is surely unnecessary to remind Selbornians of the 
claims of the birds upon them in this terrible weather ; but we may congratulate 
them, as we have done in a previous page, upon the very general advocacy of 
these claims in all our leading newspapers, and we urge them to follow the 
example of many members of our Society who have written to the papers, urging 
kindness to the feathered tribe in their sore distress. Some admirable letters were 
written to the Standard by Mr. Thomas Pole, a new adherent to the Selborne 
Society, and others. Mr. Pole had also several useful letters in the Bristol Times 
and Mirror. Literally scores of extracts have been sent to us from the provin- 
cial press, which show how general this practice of supplying food for the poor 
starving sufferers has become, and, we may add, with how much more dis- 
crimination as to proper kind of food suitable for each. A very interesting 
communication has reached us, showing that at “The Wakes,” Selborne (the old 
house of Gilbert White), food is amply provided for large numbers of birds, 
who thoroughly appreciate the relief afforded. 
England v. America re Seal Slaughter.— It would seem almost in- 
conceivable, did we not see it with our eyes, that one can read in some of the daily 
papers the question calmly discussed, as if it were quite “within a measurable 
distance,” whether two Christian nations, speaking the same language and 
springing from the same blood, should seek to slay each other in order to 
ascertain which should have the privilege of slaying in most brutal fashion 
the unfortunate seals, who are, we believe, being rapidly exterminated by the 
greed and cruelty of English and American traders. In an extract from the 
Standard, sent by Miss Agnes Martelli, we read : “ It is reported that there 
are to be certain regulations enforced which will protect the seals about Hud- 
son’s Bay for a period of seven years. Trappers will be forbidden to take any 
during that period, owing to the scarcity that has begun to make itself felt. It 
is feared that, should the traffic be permitted to continue, the seal may become 
extinct in these regions — the goose that lays the golden eggs will be destroyed.” 
Well may the Echo say, dealing with this matter: — -“ It is a pity that the nations, 
instead of quarrelling about their respective flags in the Behring Sea, do not 
establish there a kind of international society for the prevention of cruelty. 
There is more than enough of trustworthy evidence to show that the brutalities 
of the seal-fishing trade surpass everything in the way of cruelty to dumb crea- 
tures. It is much less hunting or fishing than slaughter and murder — though the 
word murder is conventionally retained for two-legged, articulately speaking 
mortals. We defy anyone to read the authoritative accounts of these barbarities 
without a shudder. But then the fashionable market must be supplied.” 
Gilbert White’s House. — It is a great pleasure to us to know that “The 
Wakes,” which must always seem a sort of sacred shrine to all true Selbornians, 
