FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



rather regretted this conclusion on account of what must, after 

 all, be a sentimental interest in birds. 



So I attended this particular seance. When I entered the room 

 I found that my old friend, Professor J. Ritsema-Bos of Hol- 

 land, was in the chair. The speakers in support of the birds 

 were mostly pastors, I was told. The discussion was entirely in 

 the German language. At the conclusion of a speech by one of 

 these pastors, Ritsema-Bos said that in the United States much 

 attention had been given to this question by a skilled scientific 

 organization. Then he announced that I was present and in- 

 vited me to say something on the subject. I protested that my 

 faulty German would not allow me to express myself clearly 

 and forcibly. Whereupon Dr. Max Hollrung of Halle, the 

 well-known Nematologist, sprang to his feet and offered to 

 interpret if I would speak in English. This I did. I argued 

 that it was most unscientific and very unsatisfactory to speak 

 of the food habits of birds in a general way simply from more 

 or less casual observation, and that before any conclusions were 

 reached it would be necessary to study the stomach contents 

 of thousands of birds of different species. I said that such an 

 investigation had been begun by the Bureau of Biological 

 Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture, that 

 already some thousands of these stomachs, collected at different 

 seasons of the year, had been examined, and that already we 

 had scientifically accurate information of the food habits of a 

 number of our birds. These remarks were naturally received 

 with silence, since very few who were there had understood 

 what I said. But when my friend had put it into German there 

 was strong applause, and the resolution under discussion was 

 defeated or tabled or modified — I have forgotten which. 



Although there were many fine men at this Congress, and 

 there began for me there a number of friendships that became 



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