Chirps and 
Chatter. 
(98) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Protection of Rare Birds. 
In spite of the wild birds’ protection 
laws, wild birds are frequently on sale 
in bird markets and shops in the close 
time, and protected eggs are added to 
collections. Such anomalies are at 
least partly due to the weakness of the 
law as regards possession of both birds 
and eggs. Two simple amendments 
needed to the present law are that the 
possession of wild birds might be made 
unlawful where and when it is illegal to 
catch them, and the possession of eggs 
illegally taken should be as unlawful as 
the taking of them. If these amend¬ 
ments were made, and all county coun¬ 
cils would agree to protect certain birds 
and their eggs for a few years, our rare 
and decreasing species might have a 
chance of re-establishing themselves, as 
it would then be illegal to possess or sell 
them throughout the country. The 
present state of things leaves so many 
loopholes that not a single species, even 
among our rarest and most useful birds, 
is fully protected. 
A Plea for the Plover. 
The Plover is one of the most useful 
birds we have. I have never known 
anyone at any time say a single word 
against the Plover, but the wholesale 
and systematic way in which the bird 
is robbed of its eggs for selling pur¬ 
poses and to satisfy the gourmand is 
fast reducing the numbers of one of our 
most useful and beautiful birds, and if 
something is not done to stop the whole¬ 
sale destruction of the eggs the Plover 
will become nearly or quite extinct. On 
many farms the keepers collect numbers 
of eggs against the. wish of the farmer, 
and the farmer, not having the right of 
shooting, in many cases cannot prevent 
the keeper walking over his land and 
picking up the eggs of these birds. Then 
there is the loafer, too, who won’t work, 
but walks over farm lands, and when 
questioned, says, “Only picking up a 
few Peewit’s, eggs.” I wish, as many 
farmers do, that the sale of the eggs of 
these birds could be prohibited,.although 
probably some few farmers are short¬ 
sighted enough themselves to sell the 
eggs of the birds. Some protection is 
needed, and ought not to be denied 
these poor birds. 
Industrious House Builders. 
At the Midland Railway Station at 
Otley one of the officials discovered the 
nest of a Missel Thrush on the brake 
of one of the wagons in the goods yard* 
As a piece of news this may be interest¬ 
ing, but inasmuch as birds are so fre¬ 
quently fond of choosing singular places 
for their habitations the information is 
not unusual. A remarkable feature 
about this case, however, is worthy of 
more than passing notice, and that is 
the remarkably short space of time that 
was occupied in building the nest. On 
the Monday night, when the official 
examined the wagon, not a straw had 
been laid, yet a pair of birds com¬ 
menced and finished their home on 
Tuesday and Wednesday. Not only 
were the twigs, hay, grasses, leaves, 
wool, etc., all placed in their proper 
form, but the nest was carefully lined 
with clay and fibrous roots, a practice 
common to all Thrushes. The clay 
was barely dry when found, and there 
were of course no eggs, but it is surely 
remarkable that two birds could build 
sc elaborate a construction in a couple 
of days. Unfortunately^, the wagon had 
to be moved, and the energetic builders 
therefore had all their trouble for 
nothing. 
A Farmer’s Friend. 
For the farmer and the orchardist no 
more useful bird, than the Swallow 
exists. Swallows are described as “ the 
light cavalry ” of the avian army. 
Specially adapted for flight, and unex¬ 
celled in aerial evolutions, they have few 
rivals in the art of capturing insects in 
mid-air. They eat nothing of value to 
man, and in return for their services in 
destroying vast numbers of noxious in¬ 
sects ask only for harbourage and pro¬ 
tection. It is to the fact that they 
capture their prey on the wing that their 
peculiar value to the fruit and flower 
grower is due. Blackbirds, Wrens, Fly¬ 
catchers, and others contribute to the 
good work; but when Swallows are 
migrating over the fields they wage 
active war against many destructive 
insects. 
