Letters In Brief

Sir: Every year at this time we read about the thousands of "game" birds, which are slaughtered for sport. Not a peep from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Is it not time that it changed its name or changed section 4(f) of its objectives " ... to take no part in the question of killing of game birds and legitimate sport of that character"? Members of the RSPB hav not been allowed to debate or vote on this issue. Is the RSPB afraid of its patrons?

C SAUNDERS

Sale, Cheshire

Sir: I'm not sure why Mrs Dean thinks St Stephen's Day is an "appropriate time" to visit a "wonderful building" (letter 31 December). I am sure she would have got in free of charge on the previous day. She might even have learnt a little more of what the church actually teaches.

SUE GOODMAN

Taunton, Somerset

Sir: The Australian meaning of "wowser" as a religious fanatic reported by Christopher Hawtree (Words, 23 December) and Len Clarke (letter, 1 January) is certainly earlier than any British or North American usage. However, my mother knew the word "wowser" in the East Midlands in the 1940s, but not with this meaning. She had a saying for any object of a bizarre or indeterminate purpose: it was "a whimwham for a wowser to wind up the moon".

DAVID J SHAW

Canterbury