Bird Notes and News 



27 



President during the long illness of President 

 Dutcher, and as President since 1920, Mr. 

 Pearson has devoted his life to the work and 

 is one of the first of American ornithologists as 

 well as of Bird Protectors. Prefacing his 

 address by expressing his pleasure in coming, 

 as it were, back to his own people, and in 

 speaking for the first time in public in England 

 at a meeting of the Koyal Society for the Pro- 

 tection of Birds, Mr. Pearson said it was 

 tremendously nice to meet face to face those 

 who had kept the fires so brightly burning in 

 this country. His story of Audubon work and 

 progress, especially in regard to the fight with 

 the feather-trade (who claimed to employ 

 12,000 people), and to the attacks upon this 

 bird and that as destructive to fisheries or 

 crops, must have kept his hearers in mind of 

 closely similar battles of the R.S.P.B., and 

 was listened to with deep attention ; his 

 description of the progressive plumage victories 

 and of the educational work among children, 

 in particular, being enthusiastically applauded. 

 The Audubon Association has a direct member- 

 ship of about 5,000, besides some 150 ajffiliated 

 branches with an average membership of about 

 500. The bird-study clubs of the States and 

 Canada have enrolled 1,800,000 children. There 



are in the States 72 National Reserves for wild 

 life, and the Association maintains 80 others, 

 which are guarded by Wardens. Most of the 

 States also employ game wardens, the preserva- 

 tion of game being of course on a wholly difierent 

 footing from that of the private preserves of 

 England. Mr. Pearson alluded to the contrast 

 in questions of animal protection between the 

 southern and northern races, the United States 

 having examples of both in its two neighbours, 

 Mexico and Canada. In Mexico, when they 

 heard he was interested in animals, they took 

 him to a bull-fight. Little progress had been 

 made as yet in South and Central America. 

 England had also much to do in certain regions 

 of South Africa. The wild bird's most danger- 

 ous enemy in the States was the vagrant cat, 

 and eight States had legislation dealing with 

 this animal. 



The speaker was introduced by Lord Buxton, 

 who alluded to the two pressing problems of 

 egg-collecting and of the discharge of oU waste 

 on the sea, as needing attention and help from 

 American Bird Protectors ; and at the close of 

 his address Mr. Pearson was cordially thanked 

 by Sir Montagu Sharpe, on behalf of the Society. 



An exhibition of bird films followed. 



Notes 



The main object which brought Dr. Gilbert 

 Pearson to Europe was to meet and consult 

 his fellow-workers in difierent countries with 

 a view to promoting international understand- 

 ing and action in the cause of Bird Protection. 

 A meeting to discuss the subject was held, on 

 the eve of his departure from England, June 

 20th, at No. 36, Smith Square, Westminster, 

 by invitation of Mrs. Reginald McKenna, when 

 there were present : Earl Buxton (Hon. Treas., 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), 

 Viscount Grey, Mrs. McKenna, Dr. Percy Lowe 

 (Natural History Museum), Mr. W. Sclater 

 (B.O.U.), Mr. F. E. Lemon (Hon. Sec, R.S.P.B.), 

 Mr. H. J. Massingham, M. Delacour (France), 

 and Heer A. Burdet and Heer Van Tierhoven 

 (Holland). It was agreed that the formation 

 of an International Committee or League was 

 desirable, and Mr. Pearson was elected Presi- 

 dent, with those present as provisional Com- 

 mittee and Dr. Lowe as British correspondent. 

 Mr. Pearson's visit, brief as it has been, has 

 done much to promote the success of such a 

 League, as few things can encourage national 

 efEort and lead to mutual comprehension of 



national difficulties better than personal inter- 

 change of opinions and sympathies. 

 * * * 



Mr. Leonard Hawksley, who has been elected 

 an Hon. Fellow of the R.S.P.B. (with which he 

 has been associated for many years) is one of 

 the best-known of workers for animals, since, 

 as Hon. Director of the Rome Society for the 

 Protection of Animals, he has for long stood 

 their champion in a country not commonly 

 regarded as — to speak mildly — the paradise 

 of beasts or birds. With regard to birds, Mr. 

 Hawksley writes : " The last Government intro- 

 duced a Bill for the better protection of birds 

 in Ita\y, under the form of a national Game 

 Law, but this shared the fate of its twenty-four 

 predecessors in not being passed before the 

 Government was turned out of office. . . . 

 We have put an entire stop to the blinding of 

 birds and the sale of blinded birds in the city of 

 Rome, but it is carried on very largely in 

 Umbria and Lombardy." Some years ago it 

 was hoped to make a special efiort for the pro- 

 tection of birds round the birthplace of St. 

 Francis of Assisi, but the diversion of a legacy 



