Mr. W.F. Goodwin. Though common in the Atlantic, I believe its capture on this part of the coast is a very rare occurrence.—Herbert S. Toms, Acting Curator (Brighton Public Museum).
[The above figure differs somewhat from that given by Couch, in which the apical margin of the tail and the outer margins of the fins are very much more concave. I have, however, compared the drawing sent us by Mr. Toms with a spirit specimen from Madeira in the British Museum, with which it agrees. Jordan and Evermann, in their recently published 'Fishes of North and Middle America (p. 1701), describe its distribution as "Tropical parts of the Atlantic; occasionally northward in the Gulf Stream; very common on our coast and in the Mediterranean, rarely north to England." Under the name of Balistes carolinensis, they figure the species, in which the tail and fins differ from Couch, and agree with our diagrammatic figure.
Of this rare fish, Couch gives three instances in which it has been caught in British seas. In 'The Zoologist' (1868, p. 1027) Mr. Cordeaux reports a capture off the Flamborough coast; but Messrs. Clarke and Roebuck (Zool. 1884, p. 183) state that they had satisfied themselves that that fish was an Opah. In the same volume (p. 472) is an extract from the 'Field,' recording a capture near Folkestone in September of that year. The peculiar structure of the first dorsal fin is generally known. Frank Bucklaud wrote that he had shown it to his friend, a well-known gun and rifle maker of Newcastle-on-Tyne, who was so struck with its conformation that he promised to try and adapt its principle for some of his safety-rifle locks (Nat. Hist. Brit. Fishes).—Ed.]
THE PROTECTION OF BRITISH BIRDS.
The Society for the Protection of our British Birds—a society which is trying to do a great deal of good in many ways—some time ago offered two prizes of ten and five pounds respectively for the two best essays on the subject. These have just recently been awarded. The question of protection to be accorded to our British birds, many of which are sadly in need of it, is a somewhat difficult one to deal with. That overworked, heterogeneous combination known as the Government has, in these stirring times, but little space to devote to legislation on the matter; and even were legislation satisfactorily accomplished, there yet remains the still more difficult matter of enforcing the law. Unfortunately, as at present administered, the Wild Birds' Protection Act is, in many places, little better than a dead letter, and were it not that private enterprise frequently steps in, it would be reduced to a mere farce. What is the use of fining a man a nominal sum, when he has a wealthy collector behind his back, ready
