Today's Mishna teaches that if someone takes the mother bird together with her offspring, Rabbi Yehuda asserts that he has prohibited a negative mitzvah based on Torah and is liable to receive lashes. That person must also let the bird go. The Sages argue that the bird must be let go but the person is not liable to receive lashes. This leads the Sages to a ruling:
one does not receive lashes for transgressing any negative precept that can be corrected by the subsequent fulfilment of a positive commandment.
The Gemara shares the story of a man who clipped the wings of a mother bird before letting it go. He let it go and then caught it again. Rav Yehuda had him flogged and ordered him to keep it until it grows its wing feathers again and then release it.
The commentary notes that Rav Yehuda's ruling does not follow either of the Mishna's opinion. He rules that he should receive lashes; the Sages rule that he must not receive lashes but let the bird go. The Gemara teaches that Rav Yehuda accepted the view of the Sages. The lashes were makkat mardut mi d'rabbanan, lashes ordered by the rabbis for rebelliousness rather than Torah law requirements.
Steinsaltz teaches us that the Talmud Yerushalmi notes the differences between Biblical and Rabbinic lashes. Biblical lashes are up to 39 strikes and are administered after determining how much suffering the person can endure without dying. Rabbinic lashes are given until the person accepts the rabbinical ruling or the court's requirement. According to the Shitta Mekubetzes, it matters whether or not one is sinning in an ongoing way. The purpose of rabbinic lashes is to convince one to repent. One who commits a sin just once receives rabbinic lashes as punishment.
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