1903-1904-] Presidential Address. 151 



I shall now refer, in a sentence or two, to another event of 

 the past year which must be full of interest to naturalists 

 — the return of the " Scotia " with the Scottish Antarctic 

 Expedition, after an absence of more than a year and a 

 half. As your President I was honoured with an invitation 

 to join the company, headed by Sir John Murray, who went 

 to meet her on her arrival in the Clyde, on 21st July last, 

 and to welcome the returning party of adventurers. That 

 expedition was, as we all know, a great success, and will 

 add much to scientific knowledge and discoveries in which 

 naturalists are deeply interested. 



We hear a good deal in these days about " protection," and 

 I would like to say a few words upon that this evening. 

 But, please, do not be alarmed; it is not my intention to 

 discuss with you any fiscal policy. Fortunately, we are here 

 this evening as naturalists, and not as political partisans or 

 what are called business men. It is to me — as doubtless to 

 most of you — one of the charms of meetings such as ours 

 that here, at least, we can with a clear conscience escape all 

 responsibility for guiding the State or the Church in the way 

 in which each and both should go, and that all the " business " 

 we are called upon to consider can be disposed of by us in 

 less than half an hour per annum, when our Secretary tells 

 us how our membership stands and the Treasurer how our 

 funds work out. The protection to which I would direct 

 your attention is, in the first place, that which would see to it 

 that when any rare bird, or beast, or plant — fauna or flora — 

 is discovered, it should be spared, not shot or uprooted, and 

 hidden away as a dead specimen in some mere museum, in a 

 glass case, a wooden box, or between hard boards. Announce- 

 ments of the visit of some rare and beautiful bird are too fre- 

 quently accompanied by the sad intelligence that the visit has 

 cost the welcome visitor its life. Here is a recent specimen : 



" A splendid osprey has just been shot at . This is 



believed to be the first of its species seen in Surrey ; " and we 

 hear of it in an obituary notice ! Hear again from a recent 

 paragraph : " There is some prospect that England may again 

 become the England of a hundred years ago as a home for 

 birds. Quails have this year been seen — and shot — in 

 Buckingham, an osprey in Surrey, all sorts of rare birds 



