382 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 



destructive and wasteful, for all the birds of the district get 

 limed and many are not even bagged, but flutter away to die 

 a lingering death. 



" If proof were needed of the deep-rooted passion for bird- 

 hunting of the Italians, it could be found in the fact that in 

 U.S.A. the Audubon Societies find it necessary to disseminate 

 leaflets among the Italian immigrants, printed in their 

 tongue, exhorting them to respect the laws and customs of 

 their new country, and to refrain from destroying that which 

 is beautiful as well as profitable. 



11 These habits are less surprising in a newly united kingdom 

 such as Italy, still tinged with mediaevalism and the traditions 

 of many formerly separate small States, than in France. 

 For France signed the International Convention of 1902, 

 and thus is accredited with the perspicacity and aesthetic 

 development which are inseparable from an intelligent and 

 humane protection of natural objects. But, after giving it- 

 self the sound and sufficient laws of the Convention, as now 

 in force in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary, 

 and after appointing a day for these enactments to take effect, 

 the French Chamber, by a large majority in November 1906, 

 passed an ' indulgence decree ' suspending sine die the 

 application of the laws, and upholding the old order of things. 

 This means an annual issue by Prefects of Departments 

 of regulations relating to game and birds, and the old 

 systematic war of extermination carried on indefinitely. 

 It is a poignantly ridiculous condition of affairs, until one 

 remembers the political corruption and favouritism that lie 

 at its root, and the steady diminution of bird-life it causes. 

 Then it becomes deplorable." 



Hungarian ringed Storks in South Africa. (Marked in 

 Hungary by means of numbered aluminium rings.) 



1. Marked on July 10, 1908, ring no. 209, at Hidveg, 

 45° 50' N. Lt., 43° 15' E. Lg. Killed on January 30, 1909, 

 at Seaforth, Himeville, District Polela, Natal, about 30° 0' S. 

 Lt., 48° 0' E. Lg. Distance about 8600 kms. Reported by 

 Mr. Peter MacKenzie in 'Times ' issue of March 3, 1909. 



