NATURE NOTES 
164 
public to be placed before a court of law. The Society has 
determined to endeavour to raise a guarantee sum of ^”2,000 to 
provide against every possible contingency, although this sum 
will probably not be needed, as the Society is advised by several 
eminent legal experts that it can expect to establish the public 
rights. Already the members of the Society have guaranteed 
£1,000 of the sum needed, and an appeal is made to the public 
for the remaining ^1,000. This action is not being taken in 
any vindictive spirit against Sir Edmund Antrobus, but merely 
to prevent the right of public access to Stonehenge lapsing 
through disuse. Those in sympathy with the object of the fund 
may send their contributions to the Commons and Footpaths 
Preservation Society, 25, Victoria Street, Westminster. 
East Cliff, Hastings. — Almost all that remains of beauty 
or picturesqueness at Hastings is connected with the East Hill ; 
so that the proposal to tunnel through this hill to bring a line 
of railway to the Harbour was naturally viewed with appre- 
hension by all lovers of our southern coast. Under pressure 
from the Corporation of Hastings, the local M.P., and the 
Commons and Footpaths Preservation Society, the promoters 
have agreed to modify their scheme so far as to cover over the 
contemplated sixty foot cutting on the inland slope of the hill. 
The mouth of the tunnel will still mar the face of the cliff, and 
the line will block the way eastward by the beach, while tunnel- 
ling operations may do much, by shaking the loose material of 
this cliff-line, to counteract any advantage which a sea-wall may 
be as a protection against coast erosion. We must, however, 
presumably, be thankful for small mercies. 
The Bearing-Rein. — “Some philanthropic body, supposed 
to be the Humanitarian League, has taken a very effective, if 
expensive, method of prosecuting the crusade against the bearing- 
rein. Yesterday many of the hoardings displayed a poster of 
large size, which even among the clamorous demands of soaps 
and patent foods and musical comedies attracted notice. It asks 
— in big type — ‘Why drive with a bearing-rein? It means— 
Less Power, Less Grace, Less Freedom.’ And in order to 
give verisimilitude to the appeal, coloured pictures of three 
horses are exhibited. The first, without a bearing-rein, entitled 
‘Comfort’; the second, with a modified bearing-rein, ‘Dis- 
comfort ’ ; and the third, with a rein such as the fashion 
demands, labelled ‘ Torture.’ The uses of advertisement will 
be sweeter than usual if in this instance they achieve a victory 
over forces which have hitherto proved too strong for ordinary 
means of appeal .” — Daily Chronicle. 
“ Snake-feeding at the Zoo. — It will be good news to 
humanitarians who have been protesting against the feeding 
of snakes on live animals, to learn that the authorities at the 
Zoological Gardens are now carrying out a suggestion recently 
