UR rarer animals and plants are gradually disappearing. Parliament has done what it could in passing wise laws, and County Councils are doing their best to carry them into effect. They can, however, effect comparatively little unless they have the general support of the community. We hear a great deal about the love of Nature, but it often takes an unfortunate form. It was said of King William Rufus that he "loved the tall deer like a father; but what he loved was killing them; and I am afraid that the love of animals shown by many people is of that description. Again, many show their love of flowers by gathering them, sometimes getting very soon tired of them and throwing them away. I have often been asked why I do not gather flowers when I am so fond of them; but I always say that is the very reason why I prefer to leave them where they are growing.

The use of the word sport is, I think, unfortunate. A great deal more interest is to be got out of animals by keeping them alive than by putting them to death. Only recently a friend of mine saw seventeen nightingales stuck up on a gamekeeper's cottage, and when he asked the gamekeeper why in the world he killed these charming little birds, the man said that they made such a noise at night that they kept his young pheasants awake. At the same time it must be confessed that the strict protection which is necessary for the preservation of game does also to some extent protect other birds, and has, therefore, at any rate, that advantage.

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It is very remarkable, considering how

the Love of Nature.

long we have lived on this globe with other
animals and plants, how little we know
about them.
As regards the
animal kingdom, many of the most
interesting recent discoveries have been
made with reference to the commonest
species. Until within the last few years
the male of the gallfly which produces the
common King Charles oakapple was
unknown. It is now found that the species
goes through a sort of alternation of
generations, the autumn brood being quite
different from that of the spring. In bees
and some allied insects it has recently
been discovered on what the sex of the
young depends. They are almost the only
animals of which this can be said. So
again in the case of eels. It was long ago
mentioned by Aristotle that nobody knew
how or where eels bred, and certainly no
one had ever seen, until in the last few
years, the egg of the eel, or the young eel
just emerged from the egg. It has now
been shown, mainly by the researches of
Grassi, that the history of the eel is in
fact the reverse of that of the salmon.
The salmon comes up into our rivers to
breed, the eel goes down into the sea and
breeds in water of great depth.

All our ponds are rich in different species of rotatoria, the common rotifer itself being very abundant, and yet I believe up to the present time no male of the genera philodina, rotifer, calledina or admeta has yet been discovered. Many other similar instances might be mentioned, but these few suffice to show how many interesting problems in natural history yet remain to be solved.

The Influence of the Fireside.

DO not hesitate to affirm that all that is best and soundest in public opinion in England is derived, first, from the private opinion of English firesides. It is the fathers who teach, the mothers who inspire, those sentiments and judgments on moral questions which their children in later years (perhaps, after some revolt and oscillation) as a rule adopt and formulate as their own convictions. It is because English homes are, in the main, moral, honour-loving, and religious, and not because English newspapers, and platforms, and schools teach morality, or honour, or religion, that the great Public Opinion of England is

broadly moral, honourable, and religious, and stands out, in these respects, above that of the other countries of Europe.

The lesson which this reflection brings to us anti-vivisectionists is a most cheering one. It depends on the fathers, and emphatically on the mothers of families, to form the opinions of their children on the whole question of the rights of animals, and the duty of humanity towards them, so that when the problem is later on presented to them-whether the torture of such creatures is to be sanctioned for the chance of useful discovery?-they shall be prepared to deal with it aright. It is because hitherto men have not been

so prepared, have had actually no ideas at all about any moral obligation towards animals, that the vivisectors have been

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able to persuade them to condone their doings.

FRANCES POWER COBBE.

Bird Protection in Britain and France.

HE Earl of Stamford, speaking at the annual meeting of the Selborne Society, said: I had the pleasure last year of saying a few words about a bit of legislation in which I was interested in regard to the protection of birds. I will just say a word or two on that point in seconding the adoption of the report. It was my happy duty to introduce a Bill into the House of Lords to make the lot of the professional bird-catcher a much harder one than it had been before. Unfortunately the Home Office and the public generally were not prepared to accept all the restrictive legislation sketched out in that Bill, but a certain number of the provisions went through and passed both Houses, and it certainly is a little more difficult time which the professional bird-catcher will have now. This shows how necessary it is to have public opinion at the back of the law, and therefore I welcome the clause in

the report in regard to the future efforts of the Selborne Society in the delivering of lectures and essay-writing by children. Something may be done with adults by arousing their interest, but by far the most hopeful direction for our efforts lies in catching the young citizen, instructing him or her in the interesting study which surrounds us in beast and bird-life, and further by diffusing instruction as to the way in which that life may be protected. There is plenty of legislation for the purpose, but it needs backing up by intelligent public opinion. In this direction, in interesting the children of the country in what has been done and what may be done, lies our great hope.

I have heard it said that the continent is a terrible example to us in regard to the neglect of bird-life. I was pleased

to come upon a rather encouraging experience in France a few weeks ago. I had always had an idea that France is silent so far as birds are concerned, since all of them had been used for the purposes of the table, and it was a very pleasant experience, therefore, in making an expedition over the battlefield of Cressy, to hear the larks, and be cheered by their voices. We may hope that public opinion in France is being awakened in this matter, and that

THE MISSEL THRUSH.

increasing respect will be paid to such considerations as we Selbornians are so anxious to disseminate. It is encouraging to hear, as I have done, even this afternoon, that the rarer species are increasing in England. I am told that Savernake Forest has been made a sanctuary for birds, and no slaughter will be allowed within that area. We have an encouraging task before us, one in which advance is being made, and it is a hopeful task which we are undertaking.

Further, as I have said before, comes the question of diminishing the beauty of the landscape. We have a duty to wild and beautiful nature, and in the interests of the best game possible we have no right to interfere with the face of nature in the way of seriously diminishing the beauty of the landscape.

How to Kill Animals Humanely.

(Continued from July issue.)

SNAILS, SLUGS, ETC.

Snails and slugs may be humanely killed by dropping them into sufficient strong brine to cover their bodies. To make quick and sure work the brine must hold as much salt as the water can dissolve, i.e. about thirty-five parts of salt must be put to one hundred of water. Roughly speaking, about two cupfuls of water to one of salt would make the right mixture.

Earthworms may be instantaneously killed by plunging them into boiling water, and flower-beds may be cleared of them by pouring lime-water down their holes. This is made by steeping fresh lime in water, but it can be had at a nominal price from any chemist. It is very cruel to use quicklime for destroying these creatures. Lime does not burn after it is slaked; the lime-water closes the pores in the earthworm's skin, and as he breathes through his skin this kills him.

COCKROACHES, INSECTS, ETC. Elaborate traps are made for cockroaches, but nothing is better than a common blacking bottle, or similar vessel,

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with a widish neck, having a little sugar and water at the bottom. A funnel of paper may be put into the neck of the bottle, allowing enough room for the "black-beetle " to get through. Then ladders of paper or slips of wood, reared against the bottle, may tempt the cockroaches to this treacherous banquet. They cannot get out when once in. A kettlefull of boiling water poured quickly into the traps is the best mode of destruction. Boiling water is a swift and sure death for insects, spiders, and all tiny crawlers.

Carbolic acid mixed with the whitewash of kitchens, outhouses and poultry yards, kills troublesome parasitic insects, and powdered borax sprinkled freely on floors and in cupboards is said to keep almost any insect away, including clothes' moths.

in

For clothes, furs, woollen things, etc, nothing is better to keep away insects than pill-boxes containing albo-carbon crystals. The boxes must be tied over with muslin to allow evaporation. Cleanliness, fresh air and light are, however, the best check on creeping things of all kinds.

Poaching in &pping Forest.

HE forest poacher, pure and simple, is usually a local artisan, labourer, or ne'er-do-well, fond of a bit of sport, who knows the ground. The cockney hailing from Whitechapel or Bethnal Green, as a rule, confines his operations to bird-catching. These men, mostly, are engaged at their work during the week, and Sunday therefore is their special field day; the winter months being the favourable period of the year for their operations.

Perhaps the most daring of the poaching enterprises undertaken at the present time in the Forest, are those now and again waged against the deer, both fallow and roe, which animals, according to the Committee's last report, number about 130 and 13 respectively. A snare of strongly twisted wire is stretched between a couple of stout saplings, across openings in bushes where the deer are likely to pass, or can be driven towards. Fawns are sometimes taken in this way, but full-grown deer very rarely; the latter are able to scent the human taint about the snare for weeks after it is set; and the keepers usually detect the wires long before the odour has gone. Even should an attempt prove successful, an awkward problem arises as to the disposal of the animal's body, and although it may be comparatively easy to hide the remains in the thick underwood until after dark, yet to get it away unobserved is then no easy task, although occasionally accomplished with a fawn.

In the cold and wet weather hares quit the

contiguous arable lands and seek shelter and warmth in these extensive woodlands. Gangs of men, eight or ten rough fellows together, may now and again be met with crossing the Forest, followed by a bevy of dogs ranging in breed from a terrier to a lurcher. These parties avoid, as far as possible, the frequented spots, and are cunning to a degree. Innocently enough in outward appearance they slouch along, hands in pockets and smoking their pipes, with the dogs closely to heel, until a likely place is reached. Then if the coast is clear the word is given and the ground is systematically hunted; the terriers searching every bush, and the larger dogs circling round to take up the running when the quarry is found, or possibly to catch a hare in its "form." Long chases are not encouraged; and it usually happens that the unfortunate hare, leveret, or rabbit put up is mercilessly "chopped" by the pack without a chance. Sometimes a fawn meets with the same fate; more frequently perhaps by this mode than by snaring. Instances of the kind have occurred quite recently, but the carcase in each case has been left behind. A well-trained lurcher is of course invaluable to a poacher, although the mere fact of its possession brings the owner under suspicion, especially if he resides near the borders of the Forest. These dogs are a cross between greyhound and sheepdog, having the speed of the one and the nose of the other.

Where rabbits abound, in such places as the thick bushes on the eastern side of Connaught