V ° 1 i907 :iV ] Recent Literature. 457 



France, Greece, Luxemburg, Monaco, Portugal, Sweden and Norway, and 

 Switzerland. Great Britain is not in the list, but is, independently of the 

 Convention, a strong supporter of bird protection. Italy, however, refused 

 to sign; and not only this, legally sanctions and encourages the wholesale 

 slaughter of the birds, even on their migrations, which all the other countries 

 of Europe so strenuously protect! 



The Paris 'Convention' consisting of 16 articles and two schedules 

 (schedule I, useful birds; schedule II, noxious birds), is here published in 

 full. It provides protection for all of the useful birds, their nests and eggs, 

 and prohibits the use of traps, cages, nets, nooses, lime-twigs, and any 

 other kind of instruments used for the purpose of rendering easy the whole- 

 sale capture or destruction of birds. Destruction of game by firearms is 

 allowed during prescribed open seasons. During the close season for any 

 kind of game bird it is unlawful to import, sell, or offer to sell, or transport 

 or deliver any such birds. With this we may contrast the position of Italy, 

 which instructed her delegate to sign no "binding schedule," and added 

 that "no agreement refused by Italy could be of any advantage to Hungary 

 or Austria" — a fine dog-in-the-manger spirit, quite in keeping with her 

 approval of the brutal wholesale destruction of the most useful insectivorous 

 birds, as well as all others, that visit this country in winter on migration, 

 "and are therefore alien property as far as Italy is concerned." 



'The Protection of Birds in Hungary' occupies pp. 145-175, and includes 

 the bird protection act now in force in that country. Not only is the pro- 

 tection of birds rigidly insured, but the Hungarian Ministry of Commerce 

 issued on June 12, 1906, an order for artificial nesting-boxes to be placed 

 in the State forests, comprising five million acres; and also, at the same 

 time, issued a decree providing for bird-days and tree-days in the scheme 

 of work of elementary schools. As early as 1898-99 the Minister of Agri- 

 culture caused to be published (in Hungarian) a large work (in two volumes) 

 by Stephen Chernel on economic ornithology, and in 1900 ordered its 

 translation into French, in order to make it accessible to the people of other 

 nationalities, following this in 1901 with a smaller work, by Otto Herman, 

 with illustrations by T. Csorgey, on 'Useful and Noxious Birds,' prepared 

 with special reference to reaching the lower classes as an appeal in behalf 

 of the birds. — J. A. A. 



Williams's ' Game Commissions and Wardens.' 1 — This is a digest of provi- 

 sions for the enforcement of game laws, and comprises three parts. " Part 

 I contains a historical summary of the evolution of the warden service and 

 general discussion of various features connected with warden work; Part 

 II, a summary of the most important provisions of the laws stated in the 

 briefest possible form and arranged in uniform sequence; Part III, extracts 



1 Game Commissions and Wardens, their Appointment, Powers, and Duties. By 

 R. W. Williams. Jr., Game Law Assistant, Biological Survey, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Biological Survey — Bulletin No. 28, 8vo, pp. 1-285, with maps and 

 diagrams. Issued August 1, 1907. 



