The Audubon Societies 



171 



country to ])am|)iT the taste of foreign 

 gourmands? 



Nature, with her infinite wisdom, 

 created birds for a definite and specific 

 purpose, and placed them where they 

 would do the most good in preserving 

 the exact balance she insists upon. 

 When man steps in to disarrange this 

 balance, he is taking a dangerous step. 

 The members of this Congress should 

 protest against any marked disarrange- 

 ment of nature's accurate plans by the 

 plume and game dealers, who reap a 

 paltry individual benefit by the de- 

 struction of the assets of a state that are 

 of the utmost scientific importance and 

 economic value. The paltry sum realized 

 by these individuals for the dead bird 

 cannot be compared for a moment with 

 the enormous value of the live bird to 

 the agriculture and forestry of a state. 

 Let us as scientists insist that the con- 

 servation of birds, rather than the waste 

 of birds, is the best plan for every coun- 

 try in the world. 



When the world awakened to the fact 

 that peace w^as more conducive to happi- 

 ness than war, and a Peace Conference 

 was called at the Hague in 1907, forty- 

 three signatory countries participated 

 in the Conference. 



While it is possible that the preserva- 

 tion of wild birds, which are so necessary 

 for the agricultural interests of the world, 

 is not cjuite as important a subject to 

 consider as the peace of the world, yet 

 it certainly can take the second place. I 

 conceive it to be the duty of this Orni- 

 thological Congress to recommend to the 

 forty-three countries which participated 

 in the second International Peace Con- 

 ference, and as many others as it is pos- 

 sible to get to cooperate, that they enter 

 into an agreement, one of vital importance 

 and from which will accrue lasting bene- 

 fits. 



The agreement suggested is that no 

 country in the future shall permit any 

 of its wild birds or their eggs to be shipped 

 out of its territory, either alive or dead, 

 for food or millinery ornaments, or any 

 other commercial purpose whatever. 



FurlluT, thai in ihi' future no country 

 shall pirmii ilic importation into its 

 territory of any wild birds, either alive 

 or dead, or their eggs, to be used for food 

 or millinery ornaments, or any other 

 commercial purpose whatsoever. In this 

 way the laws between the countries party 

 to this agreement become reciprocal, and 

 each country will be able to retain its own 

 wild birds for the benefit of its agriculture 

 and forestry, and its own citizens; each 

 signatory power will help each of the other 

 countries to enforce the non-e.xport regu- 

 lations by having a non-import regulation 

 relating to the wild birds of any other 

 country. These laws or regulations should 

 cover every bird of a country; there should 

 be absolutely no exceptions made what- 

 ever, except that under proper govern- 

 mental restrictions in the form of a license, 

 live birds might be exchanged for propa- 

 gation, and dead birds as specimens for 

 the scientific study of ornithology in 

 natural history museums, and private 

 collections of a strictly scientific character. 

 These two drains upon the bird life of a 

 country would be so small that it would 

 not be appreciable, and at the same time 

 it would advance the cause of bird pro- 

 tection by giving each country a knowl- 

 edge of the avifauna of all other coun- 

 tries, and would also enable any country 

 to engage in the experiment of propa- 

 gating extralimital species. 



Such an agreement as the above may 

 appear drastic, but it certainly is the only 

 possible way to change the present dis- 

 tressing conditions regarding the wild 

 birds of the world. 



Members of the Congress, a vital 

 question is now before us. We cannot 

 avoid the issue by closing our eyes to it. 

 It is for us who love birds, w^ho understand 

 birds, who have a scientific knowledge of 

 the question, and who represent countries 

 widely separated from each other, to give 

 this matter serious and aggressive atten- 

 tion. We will not be performing our duty 

 nor embracing the great privilege that 

 we have of conserving bird life, if we do 

 not at this Congress take the necessary 

 steps that will result in changing the 



