Chirps and 
Chatter. 
(182) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Bird Protection Abroad. 
The cause of bird protection is being 
energetically advocated in Hungary. 
An instance of this is to be noted in an 
official publication issued by the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture in Budapest, 
giving in a concise form the history of 
the International Convention for the Pro¬ 
tection of Birds, and also a description 
of the present state of International 
protection of birds useful to agriculture. 
It is noteworthy that the volume in ques¬ 
tion is written in English, in order, it if. 
stated, to make the facts accessible to 
the knowledge of as many persons as 
possible, and also “ to serve the cause 
of progress.” The Hungarian Minister 
for Agriculture gives an interesting 
account of what has been done as regards 
International measures for the protection 
of birds useful to agriculture, and points 
out that much still remains to do before 
a perfectly satisfactory state of things 
can be attained on an International basis. 
Some countries still hold aloof from the 
Convention, among these being Italy, 
which is the one country where bird pro¬ 
tection may be expected to bring about 
the most satisfactory result. 
Robin as a Barometer. 
Nobody has enjoyed this summer more 
than the Robin. It is now claimed for 
him, as the most English of all our 
native birds, that he is ahead even of 
Englishmen in his knowledge of English 
weather. Everyone will have noticed 
how the garden Robin sings all the year 
round, in spite of rain and frost and 
snow, when no other bird, except the 
Wren, is bold enough to keep him com¬ 
pany. A correspondent carries this 
common observation a point further by 
the discovery that his particular Robin 
sings not in spite of rain, but because 
rain is coming. There is no reasonable 
doubt that this is actually the case for 
part of the year. Nearly all birds sing 
with extra gusto both when rain is 
threatened and when it is just over; 
but the Robin has no fellow in his 
..absolute delight in foul weather, the 
Missel-Thrush excepted. This is partly 
because he is supreme as an insect-feeder, 
and insects are always moved by the 
approach of rain. Food is then plentiful 
near the ground, from which the Robin 
is never far removed, and, unlike other 
birds, he is stirred to song much more 
by sheer pleasure in living than by mere 
love emotions. It follows that in 
summer and autumn the approach of rain 
can often be foretold by the energy of 
the Robin’s song, and the Jenny-Wren 
gives the same warning. But in winter 
his song generally heralds fine weather, 
in the experience of one observer at any 
rate, and there seems to be good reason 
for this change of temper according to 
the season. At any rate, it is a sub¬ 
ject worth while the countryman’s ob¬ 
servation, and he will do well to take 
readings from the Robin as regularly as 
from his barometer. 
Wild Birds in London. 
Since Richard Jefferies wrote his 
charming papers on wild birds, to be 
found either close to London or in the 
very heart of its green places, we have 
had continual reasons to be surprised 
by new discoveries. It looks as if the 
bird life of the capital were approxi¬ 
mating more and more to that of the 
open country. The new list of fifty-four 
fowls of the air to be “ protected ” con¬ 
tains the Hobby Hawk, the Kingfisher, 
the Osprey, the Merlin, the Shrike, the 
Bearded Tit, the Wry-neck, the Buzzard, 
and the Honey Buzzard; and there are 
even special edicts for the hamlet of 
Mile End Old Town, and other such 
regions, where, as a naturalist contribu¬ 
tor to one of our contemporaries remarks, 
one might suppose the gaol-bird to be 
the sole ornithological species. Mr. 
Wilfred Webb, the Secretary to the Sel- 
borne Society, affirms, moreover, that 
this is not a fancy list; there are very 
few birds mentioned in it which are not 
“ comparatively common visitors to 
London.” One is glad to see the close 
time extended for all of them—and to 
believe, at the same time, that there is 
no great reason to fear their molestation. 
The London small boy does not often go 
birds-nesting. 
