21 AUGUST 1953, Page 6

On the Wing In Devonshire birds coated with tanker oil

are being lifted tenderly from the sea, laboriously washed feather by feather, given a coat' of lard and some lunch, then taken by road to purer waters. In Scotland birds are being shot in their thousands. and not invariably shot dead. A visitor from Mars might well be confused by our disparate attitude to gannets and grouse, yet the answer is simple. The Englishman's love for animals is regulated by his stomach. It is a wise bird which is inedible.