1 16 
THE CHIFFCHAFF’S MESSAGE. 
When tulips burn and palm-buds blow 
There comes a little ranger ; 
His quavering voice again I know, 
A stranger’s, not a stranger. 
He comes from Asian thickets sweet. 
But ah ! too sad for singing ; 
He tells me of beleaguered Crete, 
Of Greece with war-cries ringing. 
But as I listen, Crete and Greece, 
And all the armoured Powers, 
Fade dream-like, for he sings of peace, 
And love, and leaves, and flowers. 
Here, little wanderer, welcome then 
Though all thy notes impeach us ; 
The world is tired of fighting men. 
The birds, the birds shall teach us. 
H. D. Rawnsley. 
SELBORNIANA. . 
A Wise Precaution. — Messrs. Cassell & Co., in offering prizes for Wild 
Flower Collections, in connection with their cheap re-issue of Prof. Hulme’s 
Familiar Wild Flowers, are endeavouring to do something to prevent the children 
from grubbing up the roots of the flowers they pluck. I may perhaps be allowed 
to quote what they say : — “ Roots are strictly excluded from this division 
(children’s), as, whilst it is desired to cultivate in children a love for wild flowers, 
it is sought to inculcate in them a desire to protect the plants. If this be im- 
pressed on the children, the destruction of plants, by which districts have been 
occasionally denuded of wild flowers, may in future be avoided.” 
Thornton Heath. E. A. Martin. 
A Charitable Supposition. — A good deal is said now-a-days about the 
want of heart shown by ladies who still persist in wearing aigrettes in their head- 
gear. This may be in many cases true, but I am sure that the great cause of the 
persistency of the fashion is still the want of knowledge. Workers in our various 
societies are apt to think their efforts more far-reaching than they are. The field 
is the world. Our efforts are, after all, fearfully feeble, as compared with the 
work there is to be done. Two instances have just come to my knowledge in 
which the herons’ plumes were indignantly pulled out of their owners’ hats when 
they learned, for the first time, how the plumes were obtained. Even at a 
meeting of a large number of bird-protectors recently, one l.ady I saw who actually 
had an aigrette in her hat, whilst even this h.ad been dyed, and this lady w.as most 
enthusiastic in giving applause to the speakers. These instances must have re- 
sulted from want of knowledge. 
E. A. Martin. 
Hampstead Heath Protection Society.— This .Society w.as formed at 
a public meeting held at Hampstead on April 7, to take steps for the jireserva- 
tion of Hampstead Heath in its wild and natural state, .so far .as is consistent with 
its full enjoyment by the ]iublic, and it is hoped that all persons interested in so 
preserving it will become members. The Society fully recognises the good done 
l>y the London County Council in its management of the newly acquired Heath 
— Parliament Hill Fields. The old Heath, however, is in a difterent category, 
as its natural wildness makes it quite an uni(|ue possession for any great capital 
