82 
NATURE NOTES 
one of the most prominent of the London dailies in this good 
cause. Besides the article on “ The Vanishing African Fauna,” 
which we are, by permission, about to reprint, it has recently 
published a timely leader against the extermination of our rarer 
ferns. This evoked a letter from Mr. F. G. Heath, who, wisely 
as we think, deprecates direct legislative protection and appeals 
to the Press to inculcate unselfish moderation in collecting. The 
Daily News for March 28 had a pathetic account of the pet 
rats, mice, flies and beetles tamed by George Bidwell, the 
forger, when in prison. The Daily Mail for April 6 very rightly 
heads an article on the recent payment by the Thames Angling 
Preservation Society, of two pounds for the killing of three 
otters, “ The Doomed Otter.” The Daily Graphic for April 15 
gives an illustrated account of Ashdown Forest, the threatened 
light railway across which is now being opposed by the Commons 
Preservation Society and the National Trust. Nor is this 
satisfactory attitude confined to the daily papers. The West- 
minster Review for March contains an article on “ Advertising 
Disfigurement,” by Mr. Richardson Evans. 
Drastic Legislation. — One advantage of the State Legisla- 
tures of America is that they often pass out of hand measures 
that Congress would probably take years to think over. For 
example, in America, as in this country, there has been an 
outcry against the wearing of birds and birds’ wings in women’s 
hats, but no one has thought of moving Congress on the subject. 
The Legislature of the State of Connecticut, however, has 
taken up the matter, and has under consideration a Bill pro- 
viding for a fine of 7 dols., or 28s., to be levied on all women 
who wear birds in their headgear, and it further declares that 
the judges are empowered to cause such hats to be destroyed 
in their presence. 
A Novel Reason for Slaughter. — Among the “reasons” 
given for the wholesale slaughter of our wild birds, perhaps the 
following is unique : — The keepers of extensive woods near here 
net or otherwise destroy, the flocks of starlings which roost in 
the trees on their migrations, “ because they make the -woods 
dirty ! ” — E. Hodges, Clifton. 
Bibliography of Gilbert White. — Mr. E. A. Martin now 
has in his own hands the few remaining copies of this interesting 
work of his, and offers them to Members of the Society at the 
reduced price of half-a-crown a copy. Copies may be obtained 
through the Secretary as heretofore. 
Kindred Societies. — The South-Eastern Union of Scientific 
Societies will hold its Fourth Annual Congress at Rochester on 
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May, 25, 26, and 27, under 
the presidency of Mr. W. W’hitaker, h'.R.S. As the Selborne 
