58 
NATURE NOTES. 
three meal-worms or wood-lice, or ants’ eggs, but all these must be given 
sparingly ; a little cress or lettuce very finely chopped, carrots, grated, should be 
mixed with their food occasionally. I quite agree with Mrs. Brightwen in think- 
ing most birds require a dark corner in their cages. 
Foniinglon, Dorchester. Mary A. Hayne. 
I hope Mrs. Brightwen will tell us the fate of her tame blackcap and nightin- 
gale during the summer, and also on what date they first begin to sing. It will 
be interesting to note whether they begin any earlier in a state of captivity. 
F. R. 
Wild Birds Protection Act. — Now we have had the advantage of its 
restrictions it would be interesting to hear whether any of your readers recognise 
any increase in the number of birds that have been scheduled, particularly those 
rarer species which were gradually becoming almost extinct. 
A. C. 
Richmond Park (p. 27). — The statement that Richmond Park is closed at 
sunset is rather misleading. The carriage gates are closed at sunset, but 
pedestrians may traverse the Park at any hour of the night. 
G. H. Whybrow. 
Elephants in Africa.— The following translation from the Independence 
Beige of December 4, 1896, seems worthy of record in Nature Notes, for the 
letter in the Times referred to has probably escaped the notice of many besides 
myself. “ The African elephant can take heart again : we speak of his preserva- 
tion. A correspondent of the Times has just informed that journal that at his 
request and at the instance of the Bombay Government, a zone of protection for 
the animals with trunks {betes d hompe) has been established in the Somali 
country by the British authorities ; it extends from the passage called Cheikh on 
the east, as far as the Abyssinian frontier on the west, and occupies a space of 
about 320 kilometres by 80 ; to hunt in this zone, it is necessary to be provided 
with a formal permit ; further, a district of 60 kilometres square has been there 
marked out, which comprehends the Gadabursi mountains, and in which hunting 
is absolutely forbidden. Already the German East African authorities have 
established two ‘sanctuaries’ for their thick-skinned dependents. It is thought 
that these efforts and the decision taken by the English Government will have the 
effect of rapidly repopulating Eastern Africa with elephants.” 
Gii.ES A. Daubeny. 
The London County Council Again. — The London County Council 
is again at work on Hampstead Heath, as the following letter, sent by Mr. Henry 
Holiday to the PFest minster Gazette, will show, if the energy displayed in 
spoiling the Heath were devoted to the improvement of the wretchedly kept 
Embankment Gardens, the public would be gainers. 
“ VaNOALISM .\T IlAMfSTEAI). 
We had hoped that vandalism W'as on the decline, but I fear there is plenty 
of it still rampant. We have not another Peterborough Cathedral on Hampstead 
Heath, but we have some beautiful willows, and the west front of these is being 
mutilated in the most barbarous fashion, so that the trees look like so many 
octopuses. Pollarding may possibly be occasionally necessary for the preserva- 
tion of a tree, but these unhappy willows are allowed no rest ; .so soon as fresh 
branches have grown they are all ruthlessly destroyed, and even when they ate 
clothed afresh, all the natural grace of the branches is gone for ever, and they 
look more like broom-heads than trees. Public complaint has been made on this 
.subject, and I have not heard of any defence having been offered by the authorities 
for what appears to be an act of wanton destruction. 
“ Henry Holiday. 
