The Zoologist/3rd series, vol 1 (1877)/Issue 4/Wild Fowl Preservation

by J.E. Harting ("Ed.")

 

WILD FOWL PRESERVATION.

 

[We have received so many enquiries concerning the "Wild Birds Protection Act, 1872," and the "Wild Fowl Preservation Act, 1876," from correspondents who are anxious to know how the law at present stands on the subject that we think it desirable to print the two Acts in extenso. In doing so, we need only observe that had the legislature acted upon the recommendations of the promoters of the Bill of 1872, that is to say, the Committee of Naturalists appointed by the British Association, there would now have been one Act instead of two, much confusion would have been avoided, and such a period would have been fixed for the close-time as would have met with general approbation. Unfortunately the recommendations referred to were not adopted.—Ed.]

 

[35 & 36 Vict., Chapt. 78.]

An Act for the Protection of certain Wild Birds during
the Breeding Season.

[10th August, 1872.]

 

Whereas it is expedient to provide for the protection of certain wild birds of the United Kingdom during the breeding season:

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same:

L That the words "wild bird" shall for all purposes of this Act be deemed to include the birds specified in the schedule to this Act; the word "sheriff" shall include steward and also sheriff substitute and steward substitute.

2. Any person who shall knowingly or with intent kill, wound, or take any wild bird, or shall expose or offer for sale any wild bird recently killed, wounded, or taken, between the fifteenth day of March and the first day of August in any year shall, on conviction of any such offence before any justice or justices of the peace in England or Ireland, or before the sheriff or any justice or justices of the peace in Scotland, for a first offence be reprimanded and discharged on payment of costs and summons, and for every subsequent offence forfeit and pay for every such wild bird so killed, wounded, or taken, or so exposed or offered for sale, such sum of money as including costs of conviction shall not exceed five shillings, as to the said justice, justices, or sheriff shall seem meet, unless he shall prove to the satisfaction of the said justice, justices, or sheriff that the said wild bird was or were bought or received on or before the said fifteenth day of March, or of or from some person or persons residing out of the United Kingdom: Provided nevertheless, that every summons issued under this Act shall specify the kind of wild bird in respect of which an offence has been committed, and that not more than one summons shall be issued for the same offence.

3. Where any person shall be found offending against this Act, it shall be lawful for any person to require the person so offending to give his Christian name, surname, and place of abode, and in case the person offending shall, after being so required, refuse to give his real name or place of abode, or give an untrue name or place of abode, he shall be liable, on being convicted of any such offence before a justice of the peace or the sheriff, to forfeit and pay, in addition to the penalties imposed by section two, such sum of money not exceeding ten shillings as to the convicting justice or sheriff shall seem meet.

4. All offences mentioned in this Act which shall be committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, shall be deemed to be offences of the same nature and liable to the same punishments as if they had been committed upon any land in the United Kingdom, and may be dealt with, inquired of, tried, and determined in any county or place in the United Kingdom, in which the offender shall be apprehended or be in custody, in the same manner in all respects as if they had been actually committed in that county or place; and in any such information or conviction for any such offence, the offence may be averred to have been committed "on the high seas," and in Scotland any offence committed against this Act on the sea coast, or at sea beyond the ordinary jurisdiction of any sheriff or justice of the peace, shall be held to have been committed in any county abutting on such sea coast, or adjoining such sea, and may be tried and punished accordingly.

5. Where any offence under this Act is committed in or upon any waters forming the boundary between any two counties, districts of quarter sessions or petty sessions, such offence may be prosecuted before any justice or justices of the peace or sheriff in either of such counties or districts.

 

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schedule.
Avocet	Nuthatch	Stonechat
Bittern	Owl	Stonehatch
Blackcap	Oxbird	Summer Snipe
Chiffchaff	Peewit	Swallow
Coot	Phalarope	Swan
Creeper	Pipit	Swift
Crossbill	Plover	Teal
Cuckoo	Plovers-page	Thick-knee
Curlew	Pochard	Titmouse, Long-tailed
Dotterel	Purre	Titmouse, Bearded
Dunbird	Quail	Wagtail
Dunlin	Redpoll	Warbler, Dartford
Flycatcher	Redshank	Warbler, Reed
Godwit	Redstart	Warbler, Sedge
Golden-crested Wren	Robin Redbreast	Whaup
Goldfinch	Ruff and Reeve	Wheatear
Greenshank	Sanderling	Whinchat
Hawfinch or Grosbeak	Sand Grouse	Whimbrel
Hedgesparrow	Sandpiper	Wigeon
Kingfisher	Sea Lark	Woodcock
Landrail	Shoveller	Wild Duck
Lapwing	Siskin	Wood Lark
Mallard	Snipe	Woodpecker
Martin	Spoonbill	Wood Wren
Moor (or Water) Hen	Stint	Wren
Nightingale	Stone Curlew	Wryneck
Nightjar

 

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[39 & 40 Vict., Chapt. 29.]

An Act for the Preservation of Wild Fowl.

[24th July, 1876.]

 

Whereas the wild fowl of the United Kingdom, forming a staple article of food and commerce, have of late years greatly decreased in number by reason of their being inconsiderately slaughtered during the time that they have eggs and young; and whereas, owing to their marketable value, the protection accorded to them by the Act of the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter seventy-eight, intituled "An Act for the protection of certain wild birds during the breeding season," is insufficient; it is expedient therefore to provide for their further protection during the breeding season:

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1. The words "wild fowl" shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to include the different species of Avocet, Curlew, Dotterel, Dunbird, Dunlin, Godwit, Greenshank, Lapwing, Mallard, Oxbird, Peewit, Phalarope, Plover, Plover's Page, Pochard, Purre, Redshank, Reeve or Ruff, Sanderling, Sandpiper, Sea Lark, Shoveller, Snipe, Spoonbill, Stint, Stone Curlew, Stonehatch, Summer Snipe, Teal, Thick-knee, Whaup, Whimbrel, Wigeon, Wild Duck, Wild Goose, and Woodcock; the word "sheriff" shall include steward and also sheriff substitute and steward substitute.

2. Any person who shall kill, wound, or attempt to kill or wound, or take any wild fowl, or use any boat, gun, net, or other engine or instrument for the purpose of killing, wounding, or taking any wild fowl, or shall have in his control or possession any wild fowl recently killed, wounded, or taken between the fifteenth day of February and the tenth day of July in any year, shall, on conviction of any such offence before any justice or justices of the peace in England or Ireland, or before the sheriff or any justice or justices of the peace in Scotland, forfeit and pay for every such wild fowl so killed, wounded, or taken, or so in his possession, such sum of money not exceeding one pound as to the said justices or sheriff shall seem meet, together with the costs of the conviction.

3. The Home Office as to Great Britain, and the Lord Lieutenant as to Ireland, may, upon application of the justices in quarter sessions assembled of any county, extend or vary the time during which the killing, wounding, and taking of wild fowl is prohibited by this Act; the extension or variation of such time by the Home Office shall be made by order under the hand of one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, after the making of which order the penalties imposed by this Act shall in such county apply only to offences committed during the time specified in such order; and the extension of such time by the Lord Lieutenant shall be made by order to be published in the Dublin Gazette, and a copy of the London Gazette or Dublin Gazette containing such order shall be evidence of the same having been made.

4. Where any person shall be found offending against this Act, it shall be lawful for any person to require the person so offending to give his Christian name, surname, and place of abode; and in case the person offending shall, after being so required, refuse to give his real name or place of abode, or give an untrue name or place of abode, he shall be liable, on being convicted of any such offence before a justice of the peace or the sheriff, to forfeit and pay, in addition to the penalties imposed by section two, such sum of money not exceeding two pounds as to the convicting justice or sheriff shall seem meet, together with the costs of the conviction.

5. One moiety of every penalty or forfeiture under this Act shall go and be paid to the person who shall inform and prosecute for the same, and the other moiety shall, in England, be paid to some one of the overseers of the poor, or to some other officer (as the convicting justice or justices may direct) of the parish, township, or place in which the offence shall have been committed, to be by such overseer or officer paid over to the use of the general rate of the county, riding, or division in which such parish, township, or place shall be situate, whether the same shall or shall not contribute to such general rate; and in Scotland, to the inspector of the poor of the parish in which the offence shall have been committed, to be by such inspector paid over to the use of the funds for the relief of the poor in such parish; and if recovered in Ireland, such penalty shall be applied according to the provisions of the Fines Act (Ireland), 1851, or any Act amending the same.

6. All offences mentioned in this Act, which shall be committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, shall be deemed to be offences of the same nature and liable to the same punishments as if they had been committed upon any land in the United Kingdom, and may be dealt with, inquired of, tried, and determined in any county or place in the United Kingdom in which the offender shall be apprehended or be in custody, in the same manner in all respects as if they had been actually committed in that county or place; and in any information or conviction for any such offence the offence may be averred to have been committed "on the high seas;" and in Scotland any offence committed against this Act on the sea coast, or at sea beyond the ordinary jurisdiction of any sheriff or justice of the peace, shall be held to have been committed in any county abutting on such sea coast, or adjoining such sea, and may be tried and punished accordingly.

7. Where any offence under this Act is committed in or upon any waters forming the boundary between any two counties, districts of quarter sessions or petty sessions, such offence may be prosecuted before any justice or justices of the peace or sheriff in either of such counties or districts.