IHlature IRotes : 
Zhe Selbocne Societig’s ^Dagasine. 
No. 143. NOVEMBER, 1901. Vol. XII. 
SELBORNIANA. 
The United Devon Association and the Protection 
OF Wild Plants. — This admirable organisation is doing every- 
thing in its power, especially by appeals in the advertisement 
columns of the local press, to discourage the wanton destruction 
of wild plants and to secure the co-operation in this endeavour 
of occupiers of land, magistrates, local councils, and the police. 
Encouraged by this local Selbornian activity, the Council of 
the Selborne Society has under consideration the possibility 
of legislative action in the matter. 
The Bird Protection Acts. — Mr. Percy Clark writes; — 
“A correspondent in Nature Notes for October, 1901, writes as follows, 
regarding the Bird Protection Acts : ‘ The existing law is nothing more than a 
ridiculous farce. ’ The following experience of my own, I fear, bears witness to 
the same. On June i6 last, I sailed in a small yacht from Southend to Tantlett 
Creek on the opposite coast, and anchored there. I soon became aware that on a 
pretty piece of sand and shingle, on the Isle of Grain side of the Creek, there was 
evidently a little colony of the lesser tern breeding ; and I also became aware 
of a party of two gentlemen, a lady, and two boys, carefully pacing the sands 
and occasionally stooping down to pick something up. In much anxiety I hastily 
landed, and found my worst fears were realised, for one of the gentlemen exhibited 
with much pride, two handfuls of eggs. I remonstrated rather brusquely, and my 
remarks were very badly received ; but the mischief was done, and after they had 
gone, a long search was rewarded with the discovery of only two more nests, and 
two young ones. Now, Sir, these ruthless robbers were educated gentlemen 
residing at Southend, and even if the boys had been anxious to obtain an egg or 
two as specimens, there was no need at all to decimate the tern colony in the 
heartless manner they had done. If the upper classes set such an example, what 
can we expect from those in lower positions? The little terns are becoming 
rarer every year, but the persecution still continues. Would it not be possible 
for the Kent naturalists to do something to prevent it at Tantlett Creek, viz., a 
notice board on the shore, or a watcher hired from the neighbouring village of 
Grain ? Perhaps a note in your journal may have some effect.” 
The Country Month by Month. — The new one-volume 
edition of this work, by J. A. Owen and G. S. Boulger, is 
announced for publication on November i. 
