18 OCTOBER 1935, Page 20

SEA-BIRDS AND OIL

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

Sin,—With reference to the letter of Miss Edith Slater, in which she so kindly advises the correct method of removing tar-oil from sea-birds, I think really the most humane thing to do is to have them painlessly anaesthetised.

The birds suffer great misery while having their wings and feathers cleansed from the oil, and unless the damage is very slight, it is difficult completely to free them from it. As a rule, any chemist is willing to chloroform a suffering bird, or one can do it oneself by applying the anaesthetic on a piece of cotton-wool to the bird's beak. When eon-. pletely under its influence, the air should be excluded by enveloping the entire head in a large handkerchief.

Chloroform can be purchased at any drug store. It costs a few pence per oz.—Yours faithfully, F. M. MAXWELL.

3 Cromwell House, Cromwell Road, Hove.