The Protection of Wild Birds

Abstract

THE Report of the Departmental Committee on the Protection of Wild Birds, which has just been issued, after a considerable delay due to war conditions, marks an important step towards the proper and efficient control of British bird-life, which has been subject to the varying and complicated regulations of a long series of legislative enactments. The report foreshadows unified and simplified lines of regulation which, if adopted in law, ought to make the protection of wild birds not only more practicable, but also more effective. Of the fresh suggestions made by the expert Departmental Committee, to which the thanks of all naturalists are due, the most farreaching is that regarding the formation of a permanent Ornithological Advisory Committee, which would sit in London and not only advise the Central Authority on all ornithological questions, but also collect information and control investigations bearing upon the activities and status of wild birds. It is astounding to learn, though it is undoubtedly on a par with the official attitude towards science, that the Wild Birds Protection Acts have been administered without any expert ornithological assistance, except in the case of Scotland. Even there the matter of advice seems to have been, so to speak, behind the scenes, for there is no evidence of public acknowledgment of this highly technical information and advice.