SELBORNIANA. 
Brutal Urchins — and Others. — We have lately had one more illustration 
of the meeting of extremes, to which the following paragraphs refer. The 
wretched little boys, whose cruelties are recorded in the Daily News of October 
22nd, do not seem to us to differ very materially, save in social position, from the 
titled persons whose names were associated with pigeon-shooting at Hurlingham, 
or from the noble lord whose performances in Mashonaland have been recorded 
at unnecessary length by the Daily Graphic : — 
“ Brutal Urchins. — Two little boys, whose heads were no higher than the 
dock rails, were charged before Mr. I laden Corser with stealing white mice and 
pigeons, the respective property of Ada Wilson, Maria Braybrook, and Caroline 
Bell, all of f Iackney. The prisoners were 1 lenry Pont, eleven, of Oswald Street, 
and Arthur Ernest Hastings, nine, same address. Proof was given of the loss of 
the birds, and Detective Kemp said a third prisoner, William Alfred Childs, 
seventeen, also of Oswald Street, had been said to have urged the little ones to 
steal. But, added the officer, the little prisoners appeared to steal pigeons for 
mere brutality. They had, on their own admission, cut the legs off live pigeons 
and thrown them into the River Lea, and then stoned them to death. They had 
also cut the wings off pigeons and thrown them up in the air in order to see them 
drop on the ground. The elder prisoner denied all knowledge of the thefts, and 
said the pigeons produced in court were his own. Mr. Corser remanded all the 
prisoners for a week, the little ones going to the workhouse.” 
We are glad to see that Lord Randolph Churchill’s repulsive account of his 
shooting exploits has brought Truth down upon him somewhat heavily. After 
a brief summary of the noble lord’s prowess among lions, koodoo cows, antelopes 
and quaggas, Truth says: “The impression of which these Nimrodic achieve- 
ments leave on my mind is that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals would do well to send a missionary to Mashonaland without loss of time. 
Were some bloodthirsty cockney to describe a day’s cat-hunting or sparrow-shoot- 
ing in the same spirit, setting down with the same frankness the record of all the 
animals that escaped with broken limbs or bullets inside them, and leaving their 
bloodstains on the grass, no one would pretend to read it with any other sensation 
than horror. Where is the difference ? ” 
Candlemas — A Correction. — In the article on “ February ” from the facile 
pen of Prof. Hulme, which appears in the February issue of Nature Notes, are 
two slight errors which with your permission I should like to correct. Candlemas 
day is not so called from the number of candles “ burnt,” but because the Roman 
Catholic clergy bless wax candles on that day for use in the services of their 
church, or to be lighted and placed in the hands of the dying. The correct read- 
ing of the old adage (in Ireland at least) is, “ Candlemas [pronounced Candle/««] 
a candle less; on Patrick’s Day (17th March) throw candle and candlestick 
away.” This explanation will, I think, exonerate our ancestors from the charge of 
“sacrifice of principle.” G. E. J. Greene, M.D. 
Scottish Selbornians. — Miss Isabel B. Waterston, hon. secretary of the 
Forth Branch, writes : “ There are eight members now in Forfarshire, and a good 
many in the West of Scotland ; I should be very glad if a notice could be inserted 
to say that secretaries are wanted to form a Branch in Forfarshire and one in the 
West of Scotland. Our membership is too much scattered and wants cohesion.” 
The Forth Branch is at present the only Branch in the whole of Scotland. Can- 
not this state of things be improved upon ? 
The Protection of Birds. — We have received the Report (dated October, 
1891) of the Society for the Protection of Birds, to which we referred in our April 
number (p. 76). We are glad to find from the list of local Hon. Secretaries that 
this Society, whose aims are in unison with, although more restricted than, our 
own, is very widely spread ; and we hope that Nature Notes will meet with the 
support and approval of the influential ladies whose names appear on the list. 
With the Report comes an excellent little pamphlet by the Rev. II. Greene, 
entitled As in a Mirror ; it is an earnest appeal to ladies against the use of birds 
in millinery, and is well calculated to promote its object. “ Look at the birds 
you wear,” says Mr. Greene ; “ they are out of place in any case, but see them 
