also local laws (Landesgesetze*) which remain in force as well as the 

 Imperial Law. The latter is an extremely interesting enactment, 

 and, curiously enough, contrary to the general practice, contains 

 a Schedule not of useful species but of noxious ones. This com- 

 prises the diurnal birds of prey (except Falcons), the Eagle, Owl, 

 Shrikes, Crossbill, Sparrow, Crows, Pigeons, Moorhens, Coots, 

 Herons, Goosanders, Gulls, Cormorants and Grebes. The Act 

 also forbids generally the destruction of nests and the taking of 

 eggs and young birds and all traffic in them. No general protec- 

 tion is extended to the eggs of shore-nesting birds, including Gulls, 

 and Terns and also Lapwings. 



No bird-catching of any kind may take place by night. The Act 

 also fixes a general close season from the 1st March to the 15th 

 September, to w^hich exceptions may be made in special cases. 



The local regulations in the various Federal States and towns 

 are numerous, and some are of considerable antiquity, as the 

 foUowdng facts will show.f 



Of the more important of these local laws, that of Alsace- 

 Lorraine protects at all seasons, among other species considered 

 useful, the Rook, the Jackdaw and the Starling. BadenJ pro- 

 tects as useful very much the same birds as SA^itzerland ; of 

 Thrushes, the Fieldfare alone may be shot. Bavaria§ protects 

 practically the same birds as Baden. In the Grand Duchy of 

 Hessell it has long been forbidden to destroy birds useful to agri- 

 culture. Crows and Sparrows are not included in this category. 

 Eggs and nests are protected, and the practice of hedge-chpping 

 is restricted by a later Act. In Prussia nobody may take birds 

 (other than game birds) or their eggs or young, or destroy nests, 

 on property which does not belong to him. The law of Saxony^ 

 exempts the Thrush during part of the year, and all small singing 

 birds from the operation of its stringent Game Law ; but no 

 protection is extended to Crows, Pigeons or Sparrows. Wiirtem- 

 burg** protects the same birds as Bavaria, but excludes the Storks 

 as harmful. It is worthy of mention that in Bremen the Sparrow 

 is protected. 



The net result of these various federal laws is that 152 species 

 are locally protected as useful. The Falcons, which are con- 

 sidered worthy of protection under the Imperial Law, are not 

 protected in a single case ; while some Federal States have 



* The chief of these is the " Preussische Feld-vind Forstpolizeigesetz " of 

 the 1st April, 1880. f This hst and much of the information as to 



the law in Grermany is taken from Herman's Historical Sketch relating 

 to the Paris Convention, previously referred to. J Law of 13th 



July, 1888. § Decree of 19th November, 1889. || Law of 



7th April, 1837. ^ Law of 22nd July, 1876. ** Decree of 



1st October, 1890. 



