(I) HOW BIRDS LIVE AND FLY

(I) HOW BIRDS LIVE AND FLYAuthor(s): Roland GreenSource: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 92, No. 4661 (MARCH 17th, 1944), pp. 198-202Published by: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and CommerceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41362853 .

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198 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS Mar. 1 7, 1 944

Mr. H. J. Scott, a.m.i.mech.e. : Mr. Berry has told us that about one-sixth of the total water supply comes from wells. I should like to know something about the output of wells ; whether their output is satisfactory or whether the wells are going down and, if so, whether it is due to industry.

Mr. H. Berry : It is a fact that a large number of wells have lowered the level of water table in London. There was one large firm which sank a well and that fact caused a number of other businesses all round to sink their own wells also. The general effect, since 1907, of the multiplication of wells has been a lowering of the water table in London.

Mr. Rollit : May I ask whether the question of wells is not being dealt with in the new Water' Undertakings Bill ? , Mr. H. Berry : All that I can say is that I believe the Ministry of Health has given the matter their consideration.

Mr. S. J. Marlow : Does all water belong to the Metropolitan Water Board ?

Mr. H. Berry : No. But it belongs to all the citizens óf London and not to just a few of them.

The Chairman : I think that we have had a most interesting paper and discussion and I should now like to propose a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Berry.

The vote of thanks was carried by acclama- tion.

The Rev. Ethflbert Goodchild, m.a., f.tel.soc. : I should like, on your behalf, to express our gratitude to the Chairman for the way in which he has conducted our meeting this afternoon.

I have been reminded that when the great Leonardo was consulted about the planning of new Italy, he replied, " Build 5,000 houses along a river bank " so that the problem of water supply should be solved.

With regard to the question of chlorination we are aware that the chlorination of water is not a pleasant thing. Those of us who have been in the habit of swimming at Hurlingham have had a great deal of our pleasure neutra- lised by the unpleasant aroma of the water. I am therefore glad to hear that a new method may supersede the old method of disinfection. Ozonation is the method by which nature keeps us alive through the cosmic rays which - from beyond the Milky Way - perpetually bombard the upper atmosphere and create Os as the primary source of 02, and as long as that agency functions we shall continue to

enjoy lectures such as the one we have heard to-day !

Mr. H. Berry : May I say how very glad both Lord Falmouth and I are to have been here to-day and to see the interest which has been taken in this subject ? It was most appropriate that Lord Falmouth should have beén our Chairman to-day because he is President of the Conjoint Conference which deals with water, gas and electricity. He has been President of that Conference for many years and I have every hope that he will be re-elected on the 26th of this month.

I hope that the growing interest in public utilities will continue because I believe that public bodies work best when they receive a certain amount of intelligent criticism.

DR. MANN JUVENILE LECTURES , 1944.

(I) HOW BIRDS LIVE AND FLY By Roland Green*, m.b.o.u., f.r.s.p.b.

Illustrated by Blackboard Sketches.

Delivered January $thy 1944. I have been interested in birds since my

childhood, and, having painted pictures of them for many years, my interest has been so intensely focussed on their size, shape, colour, appearance, habits and song that my observation has become, so I am told, almost micro- scopic.

It is not, however, as an expert that I speak to you to-day, but as a bird-lover who would like others to share the pleasure that a greater knowledge of birds and their ways can bring.

Most people know the " common or garden birds " (that hackneyed phrase describes them perfectly, for they are common and are usually seen in the garden), the robin, the thrush, the tomtits and the tiny wren (Fig. 1). Few people, however, think much about birds or remember that, apart from their usefulness, they add form, colour, grace, life, melody and charm to the amenities of the English landscape.

A great deal of good work is done by birds in destroying caterpillars and grubs which are harmful to crops. The most useful are the soft-billed birds, which live entirely on insect food. The others, whose mature bills are strong enough to crack seeds, also collect large quantities of insects as food for their young.



Mar. 17, 1944 HOW BIRDS LIVE AND FLY 1 99

A wren has been observed to feed its young 1,200 times a day, a remarkable feat on the part of both bird and bird-watcher.

Probably the most popular of the common birds is the blue-tit (Fig. 2). He is colourful, acrobatic, he can stand on his head to eat his dinner and he is a clever thief. He can steal the cream out of a sealed bottle of milk by tapping a hole in the cardboard cap. We all have a kind of regard for a picturesque robber - provided he does not happen to steal from ourselves !

On the doorsteps of houses around Epping Forest you will see two things left out for the milkman each morning - an empty milk bottle and an empty tumbler. This is not a mute appeal for extra milk. The tumbler is to be inverted over the full milk bottle when the milkman delivers it - to foil the tomtits.

The blue- tit and his larger cousin, the dashing black - headed yellow - waistcoated great tit (Fig. 3), are very useful birds as they

consume and feed their young on small noxious grubs, such as caterpillars and green fly, and though both birds damage fruit buds

Fig. i. - Wren.

at times, the good work they do in destroying harmful pests far outweighs the harm.

It must be admitted that tits sometimes eat honey bees, after cleverly extracting their

Fig. 2. - Blue Tit .

Fig. 3. - Great Tit.



200 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS Mar. I J, 1 944

stings ; and it is amusing to see them tap with their beaks on the hive doorstep and snap up the bees as they come out, but wire netting over the front of the hive prevents this robbery.

Young people will have no difficulty in recognising the oft repeated call - " Teacher, Teacher" of the great* tit, and a variation resembles the sound made when a saw is being sharpened.

The lohgtailed tit is not so familiar, but family parties of these little birds, searching the trees for insect food in autumn and winter, are a delight to watch.

If you are interested in the way a bird

Fig. 4. - Great-crested Grebe.

artist reacts to his chosen subjects, I would mention that, in considering the song thrush and the blackbird, my mind automatically records the fact that the latter " flirts " his tail and the former does not. The placid thrush finds a snail and cracks the shell as skilfully and unostentatiously as the old- fashioned roadman cracked stones with hi$ hammer by the roadside. But the blackbird has more " showmanship " and always give's the impression of being frightfully busy, even if he is doing nothing in particular.

When you scatter crumbs, a very trim, lively bird usually appears. He has a blue- grey head, white markings on the wings and a reddish-brown breast. " Pink, Pink !" he stammers, for he is the chaffinch who speaks Basic English and cannot say " reddish- brown."

The robin is well-known for his views on property, but the chaffinch is also a great stickler for " territorial rights " . and fights any other bird who attempts to " jump " his claim - or rather " hop " the claim, for most common birds hop. That is why the wag- tail is so noticeable - he runs.

Soon we shall be expecting our summer visitors - the swallows, martins, swifts, cuc- koos and all the small warblers and fly- catchers, that come just in the nick of time to keep down the numbers of insect pests that are so abundant in spring and summer. The leaf warblers, as the chiff-chaff, wood and willow warblers are called, are early arrivals, and these small brownish green birds are not

Fig. 5. - Lapwing.

easy to distinguish until you know their notes and songs. The great tit's " Teacher, Teacher " is often mistaken in April for " Chiff-Chaff," which is the note of the bird of this name.

On most large pieces of water, where there is sufficient peace and quiet, an interesting bird may now be seen which used to be ruthlessly killed for the sake of its lovely silky breast which was popular for ladies' muffs. Owing to laws which protect this diver - the great crested grebe (Fig, 4) - this bird is now quite common. With head and neck erect, and very little body showing above the water, it swims quickly, frequently submerging to catch its food under water. Near my studio on Hickling Broad I have often seen the courtship of the grebe and watched the curious



Man 17, 1944 HOW BIRDS LIVE AND FLY 201

striped baby having a ride on its parent's back.

The moorhen, with its conspicuous black and white tail, the coot with its black body and white beak and forehead, and the kingfisher are all to be seen where there is water. In the country you will have the chance of seeing the peewit or lapwing (Fig. 5), and .very often on the same ploughed land there are gulls, to give an interesting comparison of wing shapes and their relation to flight. Note the buoy- ant but flapping flight of the lapwing with his large rounded black-and-white wings. How different from the long, pointed, narrow

Fig. 6. - Seagull.

wings of the seagull (Fig. 6), which is a glider. In the rook (Fig. 7) you have another wing shape to help you to compare and distinguish the varied flight of birds, for the rook's wings are broad and the tips spread like fingers.

Sometimes high above the quiet meadows you will see a bird hovering almost motionless in the air, suspended like a kite, with keen eyes searching the ground beneath and then dropping with closed wings on to its prey. This is the kestrel or windhover (Fig. 8) - a hawk - but do not call it the sparrow hawk, which is a hedge-row and woodland bird with short rounded wings for quick turning.

The lapwing is so valuable to agriculture

that the bird and its eggs are strictly protected by law. The kestrel is a great destroyer of mice and beetles and should never be shot, while the rook is very fond of wireworms - one of the worst pests of the farmers.

It is not perhaps generally realised that without birds, insects of all kinds would increase so much that far more artificial aid would be needed to save our crops from destruction ; but surely natural ways of

Fig. 7. - Rook.

preserving the balance are likely to be more beneficial and certain. We must, however, beware of thinking solely of " utility " ; the rich, varied bird life of our countryside is worth preserving for its owrt sake and for the pleasure that we may obtain from it.

If you are tempted to take an interest in birds, do not thrust the impulse aside as something trivial or silly. Birds have been an inspiration to mankind throughout the ages.

Fig. 8. - Kestrel.

The Psalms have frequent references to the wings of a dove and the wings of an eagle. Shelley was inspired by the skylark ; Keats by the nightingale : " Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird." Shakespeare refers frequently to birds and deserves credit for what is perhaps one of the finest lines in the English language, " Light thickens, and the crow wings homeward to the rooky wood." The Chinese, with 3,000 years of civilisation



202 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS Mar. 17, I944

behind them are great bird -lovers. It is probably a sign of a matured cultural life.

In war-time there is always a great up- surging of the instinct for culture ; ability is not given to us all to practise the major arts, but anyone can watch birds and be mentally richer for doing so.

From the more material point of view, there is something to be said for the old man's rebuke to the boy who had thrown a stone and killed a swallow : " Birds eat insects ; insects eat crops. If there were no birds the insects would eat all the crops, and then you would have to eat the insects . There would be nothing else to eat"

All those who are interested in bird life and its preservation should write to the Secretary, Royal Society foť the Protection of Birds, 82, Victoria Street, S.W.i, for particulars. Included in their good work is the " Bird and Tree " Scheme for elementary school- children and the recently-formed Junior Bird Recorders' Club.

OBITUARY

Emeritus Professor William Frank Eu- gene Gurley, who was elected a Life Fellow of the Society in 1937, died at his residence in Chicago on June 27th, 1937, at the age of 89. Born at Oswego, N.Y., he was educated at Cornell University. He also studied law at Danville, but his chief interest lay in geology, and he became Illinois State Geologist nearly fifty years ago. In 1897 he was appointed Professor of Paleontology in the University of Chicago, a post which he held for 46 years. He was also curator of the University's geological collection, to which he presented his extensive private collection of fossils, and founder of the Geological Society of America. In addition to his scientific interests he was keenly interested in art, and in 1921 he presented a large number of original drawings by old masters to the Chicago Art Institute. He was a prolific writer on scientific and histori- cal subjects, and in particular, he had devoted much study to early American and Huguenot history.

Although he had the misfortune to lose his sight in 1918 he did not permit this calamity to interfere with his interests, which were extraordinarily numerous and varied, and included such subjects as Free Masonry, numismatics, philately and many kinds of philanthropic and charitable work.

CORRESPONDENCE

Etymology of " Education " Mr. G. K. Menzies deserves our thanks for

nailing - and so admirably - the palpable error quoted under the Society's aegis on December ist. Messrs. Fitzgerald-Lee and Powell have written rather fantastic replies. As to Comparative Psychology - is it not a fact of common observation (of those in- volved) ? - there is no need to state that it is a common-place fact with doctors and psycho- logists that the motor reflexes (play of the instincts), appear first (that is of all processes), -and disappear last in the individual's life ? Does it need a philosopher to inform mothers and nurses that the new-born babe's mind is a blank ? And are schoolmasters - long-suffer- ing fellows - to be ruthlessly informed by the " eductionists " that they must " reverse their engines," that it is not their function to impart knowledge . . . , but, rather, to extract it, by some marvellous method not yet revealed - from the youngster's mind ?

To state that we get the word education from educére because educate is claimed to be derived from educére is like stating that a child may be born not of its mother but of its grandmother ! Surely compilers of dic- tionaries are the final authorities on the etymology and uses of words, and a reference in this matter to a Latin dictionary leaves little room for doubt.

In any case if we claim that " education " is derived from either of these sources alone - then the word is to-day a mis-nomer , for the connotation popularly given to it is a two-fold one, first to impart ideas to the youngster and second to supervise his putting the ideas to good use.

Still, as to education coming from eductum rather than from educatum , my reply is, " Hats off " for Mr. Menzies.

Trevor Simons.

Dear Sir, - As an old classic I say, of course, Mr. Menzies was right. As a parallel case, but easier to comprehend, let us look at the difference between diction and dictation.

Take the two nouns : ducatus and ductus ; both show " a leading " in the first meaning, but

how far apart are they in their final meanings ?

ducatus у a play which children used, of king and subject ;



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(I) HOW BIRDS LIVE AND FLY