126 
NATURE NOTES 
III. — The Protection of Animals. 
Protection of the Australian Fauna. — The Council has been 
much interested in the suggestion made by the Royal Society 
of South Australia, for making a big reserve on Kangaroo 
Island, and they invoked the aid of the Press in support of the 
application for the allocation of 360 square miles by the Govern- 
ment of the Colony. 
The Use of Feathers for Ornament. — The Council is happy 
to record that Lord Avebury has introduced into the House 
of Lords a Bill, of which the text was printed at the 
beginning of the June number of Nature Notes. The Bill 
met with a cordial reception in the House of Lords, and passed 
its second reading, while a select committee has been appointed 
to consider it. The original draft was drawn up by Mr. James 
Buckland, who is a member of the Selborne Society, and its 
general principles were approved at a Conference of representa- 
tives from the Linnean and Zoological Societies, the Royal 
Society for the Protection of Birds and the Selborne Society 
which met at Lord Avebury’s house. It was agreed unani- 
mously (on the advice of some ornithological experts, amongst 
whom w'ere l\Ir. Holte Macpherson and Mr. Pycraft), that the 
schedule of the Bill should contain a list of such birds as might 
be imported rather than the names of a host of others which 
might not. Mr. Montagu Sharpe, who has had great experience 
m the matter of Bills, kindly undertook to revise the draft. The 
mentioned societies have also given their support to Lord 
Avebury and petitioned the House of Lords in favour of the Bill. 
The Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary. — It was with the idea of 
preserving the nightingales which bred in the wood which is 
now used as a sanctuary, that the work of maintaining it was 
originally to a large extent begun. It was therefore greatly 
deplored by the Committee that during the years 1902 to 1907 
the song of the nightingale was not once heard. During the 
present spring it is pleasant to chronicle that the nightingales 
have returned to the sanctuary, and that there are now two, if 
not three, pairs in residence there. There is no doubt but that 
the larger funds which have been at the disposal of the Com- 
mittee enabled them to carry out the work much more thoroughly. 
The wood is now very effectively guarded and the Committee 
hopes to include in a second edition of their pamphlet, a number 
of new records, and an account of several interesting occur- 
rences. There are still a number of copies of the first edition 
left which may be obtained at the price of sixpence each from 
the local Honorary Secretary or from the Honorary General Secre- 
tary, to whom also donations towards the upkeep of the Sanc- 
tuary should be addressed. 
IV. — The Protection of Plants’ 
Your Council is not losing sight of the question of legislation 
for the protection of plants, but does not think it advisable to 
