78 
NATURE NOTES. 
the lanes and woods and fields are invaded by hosts of ragged rascals bent on the 
destruction of our wild birds and the plunder of their nests. Not only so, but the 
birdcatcher and the pot-hunting gunner ply their trade unmolested, with an 
audacious contempt or a supreme ignorance of the law which is most irritating to 
behold. 
“ Only yesterday I passed a costermonger’s barrow, in a bye street near Victoria 
Station, on which were spread some dozens of oyster-catchers, curlew's, whimbrels, 
and lapwings. I was told by their ow ner that they had come from abroad, but the 
fresh state of the legs and the brightness of the eyes of many of the poor birds made 
this statement appear incredible. At a shop close by numbers of partridges and 
ruffs (the latter birds in their beautiful w'edding plumage) w'ere exposed for sale ; 
ringdoves may be seen here and there at other game dealers’ establishments, whilst 
in the current number of a weekly live stock journal I am confronted with adver- 
tisements offering cock nightingales and other birds now under the protection of 
the law for sale. Last week I saw recorded the fact that a hoopoe had been shot 
in a southern county. This bird is protected by law, and, if the law were enforced, 
rve might soon number the hoopoe among our regular Summer birds of passage. 
“ All these birds are now' just about to breed, or actually breeding ; many have 
eggs, or even nestlings, so that they are quite out of condition and totally unfit for 
food. ‘What is anybody’s business is nobody’s business ’ is an old saying, and a 
true one : but I do most sincerely hope that this massacre of the innocent, helpless 
birds, now tame and confiding and easy of capture, in the season of their courtship 
and love, or whilst bringing up their little ones, may be stopped by the hand of 
the law r . 
“ What we want is a new Bird Protection Act, entirely drawn up by persons 
who know their business, the eggs as well as the birds being included ; and the 
display for sale of any scheduled species, whether shot abroad or at home, to be 
held to be an infringement of the law'. The enforcement of the law must be 
invested in persons well able to carry it out, and made directly responsible for its 
efficient working. The old Act is dead ; indeed, it has never been imbued with 
life, although, perhaps, it is a living monument to the utter ignorance of our legis- 
lators of ornithology. Any country schoolboy could have framed a better. England 
boasts a ‘ British Ornithologists’ Union.’ Why are its members not up and doing 
something for the better protection and preservation of those creatuies it is their 
professed object to admire and lovingly study ?” 
“Annexation” of Hayes Common.--On this subject several letters 
have appeared in the daily papers. We take the following from a correspondent 
of the Daily News : — “ Hayes Common is only seventeen miles from London, 
though it takes an hour to reach it by train from Charing Cross. Including the 
Wickham portion, it is, according to the taste of many people, as attractive as the 
choicest bits of Epping Forest or Burnham Beeches. The Wickham portion of it 
contains some fifty ancient and magnificent specimens of pollard oaks, as also the 
remains of a Roman encampment; and through it runs Lord Chatham’s drive. 
From the mound in the centre of the Roman remains, the visitor looking in the 
direction of Addington and Croydon obtains one of the most charming views in 
England. To say nothing of the natural beauty, the mere presence of the Roman 
remains should be enough to preserve the spot from the grabbers and the builder, 
‘jerry ’or any other. The Wickham portion of Hayes Common is, however, 
under process of enclosure. Round the choice part of it above-named a tall iron 
railing, spiked and close set, is being run up. Of course, in putting up this 
formidable iron railing, the lord of the manor, Sir John Leonard, may be acting 
within his moral as well as legal rights ; the point is that among the Wickhamites 
there is not sufficient spirit and independence to induce them even to agitate the 
question; while they are shrugging their shoulders and mildly grumbling, the 
reddish-yellow iron railing is ‘ sneaking ’ its w 7 ay among the trees and thick bush 
round the base of Coney Ilill, along by Chatham’s Drive, round by the Roman 
remains to the boundary of what is specially known as Hayes Common. Will 
some Member of Parliament call attention to this matter in the House of 
Commons ? ” 
Bird List from Torquay. — Mr. G. A. Musgrave sends the following 
list of birds seen during the year 1889, by Mrs. Currie, at Grey’s Lodge, a 
house in a central position in Torquay: — Great-tit, Blue-tit, Cole-tit, Marsh- 
