16 JUNE 1933, Page 12

• On the subject of sanctuaries the annual report of

the Committee on Wild Bird Protection in Norfolk (issued some little time ago and procurable from Dr.. Long, Surrey Street, Norwich) contains one of the best accounts of local birds that I have read for a long time. It is written by Mijor Anthony Buxton, and incidentally bears grim witness, to the persistent harrying of the 'district by egg collectors, who have recently concentrated their attention on the Bittern and the Marsh and Montagu's Harrier, all of which are now once again constant breeders in Norfolk, thanks largely to the watchfulness of private observers as, well as official watchers. Major Buxton writes : " There were to my knowledge four egg-clutchers in my property at different times, and no doubt others' that passed notice. One was caught jUst in time; and as the nest was a Marsh Harrier's, I dared not risk letting them get far enough to provide evidence for prosecution." His own story of the desertion of a Harrier's nest by the hen (who hated photography) and the constancy of the cock's parenthood is one of the most curious in the chronicles.

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