^'^'" ^ ■ ' The Protection of Native Birds. IO3 



1907 J 



pay a small bird tax, while a heavy tax should be levied on all 

 persons, such as game vendors, &c , who trade for commercial 

 purposes in wild birds or their feathers. 



(6.) To educate people to love birds is better for their 

 protection than many acts of legislation. Let us, then, educate 

 the children. I am confident, in speaking for my own State 

 (Victoria), that the Director for Education, Mr. Frank Tate, 

 with his well-known love for "nature study" would introduce 

 Australian ornithology into the curriculum of State schools. 

 Such a study would surely " catch on " with the scholars, 

 because birds are perhaps the most fascinating branch of natural 

 history. Again, in our State schools Arbor Day has already 

 become a recognised and important function. Once a year, on 

 a day specially set apart, the school children plant their school 

 grounds with trees. The excellent idea will expand as well as 

 the trees. It will not be long before the school ground is full ; 

 then streets will be planted, and then parks. The child 

 will grow into a citizen with the firm belief that to plant a tree 

 is to perform good work. But what of the trees themselves .-' 

 Should there be a tree without a bird to match it .-* Observation 

 undoubtedly says " No ! " It is a proven fact that trees cannot 

 exist without birds. Some species carry the seed, and others 

 guard them from many insect foes that threaten to destroy them. 

 What ails the indigenous timber in the domains about the 

 metropolis? The trees are scraggy, losing the healthy vigour of 

 their leaves, and fast dying out. The reason is not far to seek. 

 The bark is gnawed, the wood tunnelled, and the foliage eaten 

 by insect enemies. 'Tis many years since able little foresters 

 like Tits and Tree-creepers in these parts went about their duty 

 — insect clearing — leaving the forest enemies to thrive un- 

 checked. The audacity of these pests is even seen in the 

 suburban streets and gardens, whose introduced trees and shrubs 

 are set upon by native plagues. Then why not have a combined 

 " Arbor and Bird Day," as plants and birds are both so inter- 

 dependent, and instruct the children of the mutual help existing 

 between the two great divisions of the natural world, emphasising 

 the fact that, as true citizens, they (the children) must lend their 

 aid in protecting the birds which perform so much good to trees, 

 therefore to mankind. 



And now, finally, ladies and gentlemen, let us all (especially 

 you who are members of the Australasian Ornithologists' Union) 

 continue and persevere in the work of well-doing touching the 

 better protection of our beloved native birds, and thereby carry 

 out the great and grand injunction handed down to us from 

 the beginning of creation, when God brought forth abundantly 

 every winged fowl after its kind, and saw that it was good, and 

 said — " Let fowl multiply in the earth." 



