1938 - The Vasculum

11
(g) It takes no advantage whatsoever of the provisions of the Acts
whereby special areas may be set aside wherein all wild birds are protected
all the year round and / or the eggs of all wild birds are protected: and this
in a county admirably suited for the establishment of bird sanctuaries.
(h) It protects the eggs of certain species of birds, a list of which
is given. In this list many species are named which have never been known
to breed in the county and never will, such as the bittem, chough,
greenshank, hoopoe and phalarope; whilst the names of useful and
interesting species which do breed here are omitted. The list conveys the
impression that the selection of species has been purely a haphazard one, for
it shows many absurd anomalies; thus, the pied-flycatcher's eggs are
protected while the spotted-flycatcher's are not; the rock-pipit's eggs are
protected, but not those of the meadow-pipit or the tree-pipit, and so on.
A closer examination of the Order than is possible here reveals its
many outstanding anomalies and complexities. To show how impossible it
is in practice, for even those who wish to do so, to abide by the Order the
following example must serve. A shore- shooter, taking gun along the
foreshore on August 1st may legally shoot two species of seagull only out
of the five species which he will find there (the immature black-backed gull
which he may shoot cannot be distinguished in certain plumages from the
immature herring-gull which he may not shoot, even by an expert); of the
waders he may shoot the turnstone, the knot, the spotted-redshank and some
of the sandpipers. By August 12th, however, he may shoot a grey-plover,
but not a green-plover; a common redshank, but not a greenshank. By
September 1st he may legally shoot two more of the sea-gulls, and he may
now also shoot oystercatchers, but neither a ruff nor a peewit.
The Northumberland County Council is now about to consider
certain proposed modifications of this Order, which will make it somewhat
simpler and rather more logical; but, as has already been pointed out, many
of the complications are inherent in the Acts themselves and will remain
until these are drastically altered.