PREFACE. 



life was the chief cause for the holding of the first International Ornitho- 

 logical Congress, held in Vienna in 1884. The late Crownprince 

 Rudolph had intended to create an international organisation, though, 

 as regards the plan of observation and treatment, no agreement was 

 made. 



it is the H. C. O.* alone which since that time has worked in a 

 purely systematical manner, having in the course of ten years established 

 numerous permanent observation-stations, the results of the work of 

 which have been compiled and published, including, as far as possible, 

 also investigations from other countries. 



On account of its interzonal character Bird-Migration ought to be 

 the subject of international investigation, for even the most elaborate 

 observations of a smaller area depend also, just as is the case with 

 Meteorology, on observations in the other neighbouring regions. 

 Although at both Congresses certain resolutions were passed concerning 

 the creation of an internation alorganisation,the„Permanent International 

 Ornithological Committee", founded in Vienna in 1884, did nothing to 

 carry out these regulations. At the third International Ornithological 

 Congress in Paris in 1900, the resolution concerning international obser- 

 vations over the whole of Europe on the Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 

 and the Stork (Ciconia ciconia) had the same result - all remained 

 on paper. 



Ornithologists in the various countries, therefore, work as regards 

 Ornithophaenology according to their own judgment, an isolation, 

 which is not favourable to leading us to a full understanding of Bird- 

 Migration. 



On the occasion of the ornithological meeting at Sarajevo** in 

 18QQ, the attempt to inaugurate cooperative observations in Hungary, 

 Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina was happily successful, but only 



* 



„Hungarian Central Office of Ornithology". 

 Of the resolution in ,,AtiiiiIa" VIII 1901. pp. 



** Of the resolution in „Aquila" Vlll 1901. pp. 147-155. 



cza Vlll Bzs 



