Vo jg* VI ] Report of Committee on Bird Protection. 6 1 



One more point remains to be considered in reviewing the 

 present status of bird protection ; that is the sacrifice of birds to 

 science. This cannot be conscientiously ignored. 



It has been abundantly proven that the birds killed for real 

 scientific use are a factor so small as not to require serious atten- 

 tion in this connection; and it is only necessary to add that the 

 practice of loaning the specimens in large collections to ornithol- 

 ogists engaged in special work obviates to a great extent the neces- 

 sity of obtaining additional specimens for every new investigation. 



The day is past, too, when every ornithologist needs a collec- 

 tion. The collections of our large museums, placed cordially at 

 the convenience of students, answer the needs of many who 

 would otherwise have to possess a cabinet of their own, and 

 many an ornithologist to-day — well deserving of the title — has 

 pursued his studies without a gun. 



So much for science : but there is collecting clone which science 

 ■does not sanction ; too often permits are granted for scientific 

 collecting to those who collect merely for natural history dealers. 

 The strict enforcement of the law would prohibit this, and it is 

 a matter for serious consideration. 



Far worse than the collecting of birds for the trade is the 

 'scourge of egg collecting.' against which Mr. Hornaday has 

 entered such an earnest protest. 



Egg-collecting has become a fad which is encouraged and 

 fostered by the dealers until it is one of the most potent causes 

 of the decrease in our birds. The vast majority of egg-collectors 

 contribute nothing to the science of ornithology and the issuing 

 of licenses promiscuously to this class makes any law for bird 

 protection practically useless. 



There can be no objection to a student collecting a series of 

 two or three sets of eggs of a species selected to show variation, 

 but when a man numbers in his cabinet "210 sets or 917 eggs 

 of the Kentucky Warbler," and other species in proportion, it 

 becomes an outrage. 



Permits should of course be allowed in all States for scientific 

 collecting, but the granting power should be in the hands of 

 those who are capable of knowing a true ornithologist or oologist 



