Birds at Oxford When Oxford at the end of the
month harbours the inter- national Congress of bird-lovers, it will not be a home of lost causes. The cult grows, in almost every country, not least in Australia and South Africa. It has a very numerous priesthood in Hungary (where the spoonbill flourishes). One of the less active countries is Spain ; though Central Spain is perhaps the best of the Bird Paradises of Europe, and Western Spain is one of the most interesting of migration routes. The trapping of small birds by the very poor inhabi- tants of Southern Spain is so intensive—as it seemed to me when I was last there—that no resident species could hope to survive. It was there, too, that I saw French partridges put in cages outside an inn, merely for decoration, as others would put out an aspidistra. The cages were so small that the birds could not open their wings.
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