Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/70

46 'South Australian Registrar' complains of the wanton destruction of birds there, stating that it is an unforeseen effect of the legislation intended to ensure the destruction of Sparrows and other feathered pests; but it goes on to say that to the ruthless and indiscriminate extermination of birds which is now proceeding in almost every district some material check might be applied if Parliament would only spare an hour or two of its valuable time for the consideration of the Bill promoted by the Society for the Protection of Birds. When that Society was inaugurated four years ago many people described the movement as an evanescent fad which would have no result, but the local branch has now 525 members, and the parent society in the old country numbers 18,200. South Australia is apparently now concerned about the fate of the native birds, and it has good reason to be, not only from a sentimental, but also from a utilitarian point of view. In many ways different species of Australian birds may prove themselves to be the friends of mankind. Kendall, the most essentially Australian of all our poets, mentions not the best of these when he says—

But if only on the ground of pure sentiment, the agitation undertaken by the Society is fully justified. The days are surely gone by when in any civilized country a large proportion of the people, even in the needful work of extirpating pests, would wantonly prefer the cruel methods of slow torture to those of swift and painless destruction. No doubt one may find here and there wretches who would sit smoking a pipe and watching the struggles of a wounded bird without the slightest impulse to put it out of its misery. Some boys will actually pull the wings and the legs away from a living bird, and impale the suffering little thing against the trunk of a tree, in order to enjoy the spectacle of its agony. The practice of offering bonuses for the heads of Sparrows undoubtedly tended to harden the consciences of many young people, and the amount of wanton cruelty observed in the park-lands around Adelaide is quite disquieting. Unfortunately, the existing demand for wings for the trimming of ladies' hats leads to an immense amount of cruelty, and the boys therefore are not the sole persons responsible for the evil. In the case of those species of birds that are already in danger of extermination, the caprices of fashion are peculiarly unpatriotic and unwise, as well as cruel, for they perpetrate their worst ravages at the breeding season, when the plumage is at its brightest.—Globe.

interesting facts are to be found in 'Angling Notes' contributed to the 'Westminster Gazette' of Dec. 30th. In connection with the details of a plan to increase the stock of Salmon in the Tweed and Teviot,