SEA-BIRDS AND OIL
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sut,—I read with interest and sorrow Mr. Wright's letter in yOur issue of September 20th, about the number of sea-birds on the 'Coast of Wigtownshire dying from saturation by oil. It is comforting to learn that the League of Nations is urging international- *action. But nations act slowly, individuals can act at once. . So I ask you to let me hand on to your readers this information, about rescuing such birds as 'are not very, badlY clogged with oil, which was kindly supplied to me by the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society for the Protection, of Birds. Mineral oils (petrol, paraffin, &c.) should not be used, as they make the bird 'sink when it returns to the sea, but salad oil,. or anyt„Vegetable oil should be. rubbed on, and two hours later the bird (not the head) washed with warm soapy water. It should not be returned to the sea till abiolutely dry and vigorous. It may be fed on bits of herring, sprats, small smelts or chopped raw, beef, and if kept on land for two or three days.should have a bath of salt water.
A precaution to be recommended is that the bird's head should be . covered with a soft cloth of very thin material ; one can imagine, from feeling the peck of a frightened thruSh, what a sea-gull might do in that way.—Yours, &c., Staribear Cottage, Callington, Cornwall. EDITH E. SLATER.:
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