French river rising E of Sees and flowing NW,
then NE to the English Channel below Caen;
152 km/94 mi long. A ship canal runs
alongside it from Caen to the sea at
Ouistreham. The Orne gives its name to a
departement in Normandy; population (1982)
295,500. ornithology The study of birds. It
covers scientific aspects relating to their
structure and classification, and their
habits, song, flight, and value to
agriculture as destroyers of insect pests.
Interest in birds has led to the formation of
societies for their protection, of which the
Society for the Protection of Birds 1889 in
Britain was the first; it received a royal
charter 1904. The Audubon Society 1905 in the
USA has similar aims. Other countries now
have similar societies, and there is an
International Council for Bird Preservation
with its headquarters at the Natural History
Museum, London. The headquarters of the
British Trust for Ornithology is at Beech
Grove, Tring, Hertfordshire. Migration, age,
and pollution effects on birds are monitored
by ringing (trained government-licensed
operators fit numbered metal rings to
captured specimens with a return address).
Legislation in various countries to protect
wild birds followed from a British act of
Parliament 1880.