4 
Secretaryship has been relinquished by Mrs. F. E. Lemon, who 
had held it since 1892, and accepted by Mr. Lemon. 
The Council has been strengthened by the addition of eight 
active workers, and has, during the year, met eight times under 
the chairmanship of Mr. Montagu Sharpe, in addition to the 
meetings of the Publication and Finance Committees. The 
finances show an improvement upon 1903, the year ending with 
a balance (including Watchers’ Fund, £73 12s. lid.) of 
=£11L 9s. 4d. There have been 439 additions to the roll of 
annual subscribers. The clerical work of the Society has 
greatly* increased during the last year or two, not only by 
reason o£ the growth of the general correspondence and a 
larger number of subscribers, but also because of the issue of 
“ Bird Notes and News” and the circularizing of the Schools in 
the selected Counties in connection with the “Bird and Tree (or 
Arbor) Day Competitions.” 
The Pole- 
Trap. 
The year has been marked in a very satisfactory manner by 
the passing of two Acts of Parliament drafted by the Council 
for remedying two notorious evils. For many years the Society 
fought against what Sir Herbert Maxwell has described as “one 
of the scandals of game-preserving ”—the employment of the 
pole-trap, with its hideous cruelty to the unfortunate victims 
doomed to die a lingering death within its clutches, and its 
indefensible destruction of rare, harmless, and “ protected ” 
species. Richard Jefferies long ago bore witness to its gruesome 
success in the destruction of Owls; ten years since Mr. Hudson 
pointed out, in a leaflet on “ The Barn Owl,” published by the 
Society, how little it availed for County Councils to give pro¬ 
tection on paper to these useful and beautiful birds while the 
barbarous pole-trap was allowed to exist on private estates, 
“ exterminating the oavIs inhabiting the country for miles 
around.” Correspondence on the subject in leading London 
papers in 1898 and 1900 Avas reprinted in leaflet form and 
Avidely circulated; and in 1898 a circular letter was addressed 
to 5000 landowners and tenants of shootings, resulting in many 
expressions of sympathy reaching the Society, coupled Avitli 
numerous indications that those to whom the letter A\ r as sent 
disliked the trap, and would be glad to forbid its use if their 
gamekeepers Avere of the same mind with themselves. The 
Times, Field, and other influential journals, supported the 
Society in its campaign. Continual protests to those on whose 
land the trap was knoAvn to be used, met with some encouraging 
responses ; and references to the subject at annual meetings 
* The number of postal packets issued by the officials of the Society (not 
including the Hon. Local Secretaries and Branches) was 30,039. The 
number of schools to which letters and papers were sent was over 1200. 
