36
NOTES.
Thick-Knee and Peregrine Falcon near Stratford in January.—Mr. A.
F. Gates, Marsh Gate Lane, Stratford, records in "Zoologist" for March
(Zool., 3rd ser., vol. xiii, p. 106) the shooting of a specimen of the Norfolk Plover
or Thick-knee OEdicnemus Scolopax, Gmelin) in the marshes near Stratford in
January last. The bird usually leaves about September. He adds that just pre-
viously a fine Peregrine Falcon was picked up in the same marshes. It had been
shot at (of course), but was alive when found.
Hen Harrier and Red-breasted Merganser in Essex.—Mr. E. W. Gunn,
of Ipswich, records in the "Zoologist" for April (Zool. vol. xiii (3rd ser.) 144),
that an adult female Hen Harrier was shot on December 20th, 1888, at Walton-
on-the-Naze. The ovaries were very small, and in the bird's crop he found a
portion of a thrush, in a semi-digested state. He also records the shooting on the
beach at Walton-on-the-Naze, on January 16th, of an adult male of the Red-
breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator, L.). It was in good condition, and had
recently fallen in with a shoal of sprats, for its gullet contained no fewer than
twenty-three (some half digested), all averaging about three inches in length, and
amongst them he found one small whiting. The gizzard and intestines were full
of the remains of fish.
The Sand-Grouse Protection Act, 1888.—This Act (51 and 52 Vict. c. 55)
received the Royal assent on the 25th of December. It was prepared and brought
in by Mr. Sydney Buxton, Sir G. Trevelyan, Lord Charles Beresford, Sir John
Lubbock, Mr. G. Osborne Morgan, Sir Henry James, Mr. Richard Power, Sir
Edward Birkbeck and Mr. Broadhurst. The operative clause is as follows :—
"Any person who shall after the first day of February one thousand eight hundred
and eighty-nine, and before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred
and ninety-two, knowingly, or with intent, kill, wound, or take any Sand Grouse,
or shall expose or offer for sale any Sand Grouse killed or taken in the United
Kingdom, shall, on conviction of any such offence before any justice or justices of
the peace in England or Ireland, or before the sheriff or any justice or justices of
the peace in Scotland, forfeit or pay for every such bird so killed, wounded, or
taken, or exposed or offered for sale, such sum of money not exceeding one pound
as to the said justice or justices shall seem meet, together with the costs of con-
viction." As so often happens with bills of this description (e.g., the Ancient
Monuments Act), it was modified during its passage through Parliament, and the
intention of the promoters in great measure frustrated. They wished the Act to
take effect immediately upon its passing, so as to create a close time for the pro-
tection of the Sand Grouse between the date of passing and January 1st, 1892.
This was altered so as to protect only between February 1st, 1889, and January
1st, 1892, the result being, as Mr. Harting very truly remarks in the "Zoologist"
for February, "that many Sand Grouse have been killed since the Act was passed,
apparently because unscrupulous persons have been anxious to procure specimens
before it should become illegal to do so. If there was to be any legislation at all on
the subject, the pity is it did not come sooner. It is hardly to be expected that
any good will now result from it."
Destruction of Otters in the Stour.—I had yesterday a present of three
young otters, killed last Saturday, December 1st, at Dedham, by Mr. F. S.
Griffiths, jun., who kindly sent them to me for preservation. They are two males
and one female, and are about fifteen inches long, not including the tail. Mr.
Griffiths informed me that he wounded, and believes he killed, the mother, but if
so she sank. In making a note of this unfortunate extermination of a family of
harmless creatures, I hope I may be allowed to express my great regret that after
all the efforts made of late years to spread a knowledge of natural history, there
should still be so many who think it advantageous to the game or fish, which
is their favourite object of pursuit, to kill every bird or animal which may
prey on either one or the other. I hope that our Society may some day convince
every one in this county that the carnivora, whether birds or quadrupeds, exercise
a beneficial, and not a prejudicial, effect on the species upon which they subsist.
Henry Laver, F.L.S., Colchester, December 5th, 1888. [The slaughter of