150 
NATURE NOTES. 
triumph with nine perfect specimens. They took kindly to 
captivity, and fed with an excellent appetite on sugar, wall 
paper and rotten %vood. They are chiefly interesting because 
their silvery scales are very beautiful and are used as tests as 
to the power of microscopic lenses. 
I will conclude with one or two practical suggestions derived 
from a recent visit to Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire. I w’as 
never before in an)^ place where so many birds could be seen 
and of such various kinds. 
I was delighted to find this was the result of protective 
measures. Years ago, there were so few birds to be seen at 
Woodhall, owing to bird nesting and shooting, that the authori- 
ties adopted very strict measures, bills were put up everywhere 
saying that no nests of any kind were to be taken and no birds 
shot. Infringement of these rules was stringently punished. It 
was a joy to my Selbornian heart to see the tameness of the birds, 
and to find that, although I am familiar with the notes of almost 
all our ordinar}' species, there were five or six quite new to me. 
I saw and heard the shrike, and had a real treat in listening to the 
wonderful performance of a sedge or reed warbler. This bird 
perfectly imitated, by turns, a blackcap, a robin, a chaffinch, the 
sparrow’s chirp and charming little bits of the nightingale’s song; 
I listened for twenty minutes quite entranced, only twice catch- 
ing a glimpse of the bird flitting through the osiers which no 
doubt contained its nest. Nightingales were in abundance; 
one could really have wished that the)'^ would take a nap in the 
middle of the night and allow one to have some repose. 
All this shows that by wise restrictive measures we can 
cause these sweet song birds to increase and live quite near our 
dwellings. 
With much regret I found that a nest had been taken in my 
grounds last week ; the theft was traced to a farm boy, who 
seemed quite impenitent. He was sent to me, and I saw from 
his expression that no scolding would avail, so I quietly described 
how the little birds had built their nest, and laid the eggs, then 
their joy in feeding their young. “ And now,” said I, with tears 
in my eyes, “ you have taken that nest and ended all their 
happiness. Is it of any use to }'0u ? ” “ No, ma’am.” “ W’hat 
are you going to do with it ? ” “ Nothing, ma’am” ; then after a 
pause, “ I’m very sorry I took it.” I had appealed to him on the 
better side of his nature, and I think this is the right way in 
most cases. Give children some idea of the tender innocent 
lives of the birds, make them realize that their joys and sorrows 
are of a nature similar to their own, and gradually they will be 
led to be humane instead of cruel. 
That boy was only a specimen of thousands of children who 
do not yet even know that it is illegal to take birds’ nests. If 
every Selbornian would obtain and distribute the leaflets issued 
by the R.S.P.C.A., giving a list of protected birds, and have 
them posted up throughout our villages, it would be doing a most 
