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SELBORNIANA. 
Wild Birds Protection Acts, 1894 1896. — “W.” 
writes ; — 
“ Is it not time that some endeavour should be made to 
make these Acts — which were at last secured and passed after 
great trouble and perseverance on the part of those who first 
took the matter in hand, and to whom all credit is due — some- 
thing more than the ridiculous farce they are at present ? 
Everyone interested in birds must know that at no time has 
‘ bird-nesting ’ in its worst sense, and the destruction of birds 
for ‘ specimens,’ been more rife than at present. Everyone 
who has spoken to magistrate, chief constable or police sergeant, 
has probably met with the same answer, viz., that the police 
have other duties to perform, and have no time for such work, 
&c., &c., and no doubt with a considerable amount of truth. 
But it is equally true that, for obvious reasons, every indi- 
vidual cannot constitute himself a private detective. After 
returning from a brief visit to the nests known to exist within 
half a mile of one’s residence, and in a state of helpless indig- 
nation on finding them all emptied of their contents, two of 
them at least being within the boundary of one’s own garden, 
it is a matter of some difficulty even to write coherently on 
the subject. Many newspaper readers must have noted with 
satisfaction the work which has been done — especially during 
the last winter in London alone — by our friends, the Society 
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, through the efforts 
of their officers, appointed for the purpose, in bringing offenders 
to justice. In this direction the remedy seems to lie. What 
has been done by others can surely be done by members of 
the Selborne and other kindred societies acting in unison, and 
if it is only a question of money the difficulty ought to be over- 
come. The WTiter, at any rate, would glady subscribe to such a 
fund. A few prosecutions and fines in different localities would 
be of more effect than all the money now wasted in the printing 
and posting of bills which nobody heeds, and which have no 
deterrent effect whatever, for who ever hears of a prosecution 
under the Wild Birds Protection Acts ? ” 
A Lesson from the Matabeles. — “From time to time 
the feelings of readers of English papers are harrowed and 
lacerated by accounts of the destruction of some of the rarest 
and most beautiful birds, such as the egret, at the very time of 
their honeymoon, to minister to female vanity in head-gear. It 
may interest our readers to be told that the Matabele bucks and 
dandies used to be nearly as bad as these fashionable dames at 
home, though the birds whose plumage they secured were in no 
danger of extinction as a race. Many of the South African 
natives are as vain as peacocks, and literally delighted in former 
days to strut in borrowed plumes. Thus some of the young 
bloods amongst the Matabele used to wear a curious tuft of 
