COMPARATIVE LEGISLATION 



FOR THE 



PROTECTION OF BIRDS, 



BY 



A. HOLTE MACPHERSON, 

 Winner of the Gold Medal Essay Competition, 1908. 



THE subject of the protection of birds has in recent years 

 assumed a position of considerable importance chiefly owing 

 to the recognition of the great effect exercised by birds 

 upon agricultural conditions. Not only have the legislatures of 

 most European countries devoted attention to the subject, but 

 both on the European Continent and in the United States of 

 America we find Governments seriously working at the subject 

 through their Departments of Agriculture. Wliether a given 

 bird should be protected or not is usually a hard problem to 

 decide ; but it is still harder to determine the extent of the pro- 

 tection to which it is entitled ; and when we further come to 

 approach the question of how to give the requisite protection, 

 the problem presents difl&culties which are almost insuperable 

 OMing to our woeful ignorance. 



In years to come no doubt we may have learnt more of the 

 relationship between birds and their surrounding conditions, and 

 more of the effect of the disturbance caused directly and in- 

 directly to the balance of Nature by the destruction of some 

 mammal, bird or insect, or by the introduction of some insect, 

 bird or mammal. But at present the best that can be done is 

 to observe and collect facts, and to watch the character and 

 effect of the legislation for the protection of birds in other lands, 

 in hopes of being able to build a surer foundation for future 

 legislation in our own country. 



In a recent address to the Bar Association of New York State, 

 the British Ambassador referred to the difficulty of modern 

 legislation owing to the complexity of modern life, the growth of 

 commerce and industry and of new methods of production and 

 distribution. Many problems, he pointed out, are too difficult 

 and involved even for the abler members of legislative bodies to 

 master, and it has become " desirable to have some organised 

 system for the gathering and examination of materials for legisla- 

 tion, and especially for collecting the laws passed in other 



