SELBORNIANA 203 
the new League every success, and shall hope to say more as 
to its work on a future occasion. 
Cornish Chough. — Mr. Arthur W. Hext Harvey writes 
from Penzance : — 
“ I should like to call the attention of naturalists and all 
true sportsmen to this bird, which, already sadly diminished 
in numbers, is now in danger of absolute extermination. At 
Tintagel, in Cornwall, there are some score or more of these 
birds left, and these are being shot down whenever an oppor- 
tunity occurs. If the chough is exterminated, and at present 
there seems very slight hope of saving it, we shall have the weak 
policy of the \Vild Birds’ Preservation Act to blame for it. 
Under the Act of 1880 the chough is protected from March i 
to August I, the penalty on conviction being £\, which is less 
than can be obtained for a ‘ British ’ specimen of the bird, so 
that practically the i\.ct encourages the destruction rather than 
the preservation of rare birds. Again, the sand grouse, a very 
occasional visitant, is absolutely protected during the whole 
year. I have no particular enmity against the sand grouse, 
but it appears to me to be perfectly absurd to protect a 
problematical visitant at all times, whilst a rare resident, 
united as the chough is to us by so many old associations, is 
allowed barely sufficient time to breed in peace and security. 
“ There are two ways of preserving this most beautiful bird : 
{a) By procuring an extension of the Wild Birds’ Preservation 
Act to meet the present case ; and (i) by raising a band of 
watchers, as has been done with great success at the instigation 
of Messrs. R. and C. Kearton in the case of the skuas. Of 
course both methods are expensive, but I think a subscription 
list started in this and other natural history periodicals would 
meet with ready response.” 
The Destruction of Leaves. — Mr. Spencer Pickering, of 
the Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm, writes as follows to the 
Standard : — “1 trust that I may draw attention, through the 
Standard, to the wanton and pernicious destruction of plant-food 
which goes on all over London at this period of the year. 1 
refer to the burning of fallen leaves. In nearly every square- 
garden a continuous stream of smoke may now be noticed, 
rendering the air perceptibly thicker in the vicinity ; and even in 
the public parks, where some intelligence might be expected in 
the presiding horticultural authorities, the same operation pro- 
gresses merrily, but on a larger scale, wllile the trees close by 
are all the time showing unmistakable signs of wanting the 
very nourishment of rvhich they are being robbed by the igno- 
rance of their custodians. Every country gardener in the king- 
dom knows the value of leaf-mould, and learns, in the earliest 
stages of his education, the simple process by which it may be 
made, or rather the process by which it may be allowed to make 
itself, and one would hardly have thought that such a knowledge 
