The Audubon Societies 



169 



Russia. — F. v.. Sloll, Crossi- KiiUTstrassc 

 18, Riga; Baron Ilarald Loudon, Lisdcn 

 bci Wolmar, Li viand. 

 Sweden. — Prof. Dr. Kinar Lcinnbcrg, 



Vetenskapsakademien, Stockholm. 

 "United States. — Wm. Dutchcr, 141 

 Broadway, New York City; T. S. Pal- 

 mer, Department of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, D.C. 



The Proceedings of the Congress will 

 be published before the close of the year 

 and will be for sale by the permanent 

 officers of the Congress. — W. T^. 



Some Reasons Why International Bird 

 Protection Is Necessary* 



By William Dutcher, F. A. (). U. 



After reading the admirable and com- 

 prehensive historical sketch of the de- 

 velopment of international bird protec- 

 tion in Europe, written by Otto Herman, 

 and published by the Royal Hungarian 

 Minister of Agriculture, Ignatus de 

 Daranyi, I was greatly astonished to 

 discover that during the half century in 

 which the subject had been considered by 

 the great powers of Europe, through 

 their scientific representatives and their 

 learned ornithologists, that one of the 

 greatest causes of bird-destruction, not 

 only in. Europe but in all other parts of 

 the world, had never been discussed. I 

 refer to the slaughter of birds for milli- 

 nery purposes. The only mention of the 

 millinery trade may be found on page 122 

 in the report of the International Orni- 

 thological Congress, held at Paris in 1900, 

 which reads as follows: "The first event 

 was that the delegates of the Paris 

 feather merchants and of the millinery 

 houses, — two branches which demanded 

 and still demand the sacrifice of billions 

 of poor birds, — appeared at the Orni- 

 thological Congress to raise their voices 

 in opposition to the cause of bird protec- 

 tion, which threatened to injure their 

 material interest." 



Surely if the members of the several 

 Congresses which have met in the past 



♦Presented at the Fifth International Ornitholo- 

 gical Congress, Berlin, May 30 to June 5, 1910. 



could not a^rce u|)<)n an_\- sclicdulc of 

 birds that were beneficial to agriculture, 

 or, on the contrary, were supposed to be 

 noxious, it would seem that the destruc- 

 tion of birds for millinery purposes would 

 have been a common ground upon which 

 the delegates from the dilTerent countries 

 could have agreed, and might have been 

 in harmony in any drastic measure that 

 would prohibit the use of birds for this 

 wasteful purpose. The Paris milliners 

 protested against any movement which 

 threatened to injure their material in- 

 terest. I ask whether the milliners have 

 any interest that is paramount to the 

 interest of agriculture and its allied in- 

 dustry, forestry. These two . industries 

 need the live bird, and necessarily must 

 advocate their protection and increase. 

 On the other hand, the milliners demand 

 a dead bird, and require that it shall be 

 killed at a season of the year when it is 

 in its best plumage, that is, during the 

 period of reproduction; the result being 

 decrease and eventual extermination. 



There is a legal side to this question: 

 In America, wild birds are considered the 

 property of the state, and the milliners 

 have no legal right to kill them, as they 

 are thus depriving the state of one of 

 its most valuable assets. I am not suffi- 

 ciently informed about the laws of Euro- 

 pean countries to know whether wild 

 birds are considered the property of the 

 state, but if they are, the milliners of 

 Europe have no more property rights in 

 birds than have the milliners of the 

 United States. 



I am happy to be able to say that in 

 the United States, and in fact, the greater 

 part of North America, the traffic in wild 

 birds' plumage by the millinery dealers 

 has been greatly restricted through the 

 efiforts of the Audubon Societies; however, 

 to make this restriction more effective, 

 we need the help of all the great world 

 powers. 



America cannot protect her own birds, 

 if the countries of the Old World offer a 

 market for the plumage of American birds, 

 as they are now doing. 



Twenty-five years ago, there were 



