28 JANUARY 1938, Page 18

A Bird's Enemy

The rabbits interfere even with the birds. Owners of spornng estates know this well, and there are on record some wholly astonishing examples of the multiplication of partridges following an anti-rabbit campaign Of course SkOkholm is first and foremost a home of birds and a resting place for birds. It is now known over the world ; and possesses an observatory only less efficient and famous than that on Heligo- land. This has been enlarged this year, thanks to the vitality

of the fund started by readers of The Spectator. Much of the other work is done at .a loss. It is expensive work to ring some six thousand birds and collate the subsequent evidence of their rgovements..... The clerical work alone is considerable ; and is an expense even though done by volunteers. The recoveries of the ringed birds have been more than might have been expected, especially of gannets from the little neighbouring island of Grassholm. The report for 1937, issued in a pamphlet of twenty-two pages, is full of detail of peculiar interest to observers of birds, though one could wish

it were fuller in respect of the evidence of migration.