170 SHELTER TO INgECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 



that an increase is often caused by the killing off of birds This leads 

 us to consider more fully this important subject, so closely identilied 

 with sylviculture and with our agricultural interests generally. 



TEEE-rLANTING CONSIDERED AS A BENEFIT TO AGRICULTURE, IN 

 PROMOTING THE INCREASE OF INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 



In the Land and Forest Congress, held in connection with the Vienna 

 Exhibition in 1873, much i)rominence was given to the incidental bene- 

 fits of forests, in preventing sudden iloods and eroding torrents, and by 

 their affording protection to birds, thereby lessening tbe damages re- 

 sulting to agriculture from insects. Eesolutions were passed strongly 

 commending to the various governments of Europe the necessity of pass- 

 ing stringent laws and regulations tending to this end.^ 



But as birds find their nesting places for the most part in groves and 

 thickets, which come within the province of the forester's care, the im- 

 portance of having woodlands scattered here and there between fields 

 devoted to agriculture acquires for this reason additional weight. Early 

 in 1874 this subject came before the National Assembly of Eranc? as a 

 l)ropositiou for a law in the interest of agriculture to lessen the ravages 

 of insects upon the crops, and a report was presented strongly urging 

 its importance. This report cites in detail the recommendations of vari- 

 ous societies, and specifies the birds that might be protected and those 

 that should not, the latter being birds of prey of the larger kind that 

 subsist only upon little birds.^ 



With the view of impressing upon children the necessity of pro- 

 tecting birds, the following circular was issued officially by the depart- 

 ment having charge of the national system of education : 



Circular of the minister of Puhlic Instruction and the Fine Arts concerning the protection of 

 insectivorous birds. 



Paris, March 31, 1876. 

 To Monsieur the Prefect : 



The iiijurios occasioned to agricultnro by injuiions insects Lave witbiu a few years 

 becoinn, ho great as to occnsiou niiich iuqnietud>-. 



The Minister of Agriculture, and the Minister of the Interior have done me the honor 

 of calling ruy attention to this sad condition of affairs, of which one of the principal 

 causes has been the disappearance, or at least the diniiuutiou in number, of insectiv- 

 orous birds. These birds, which are the natural guardians of our harvests, and the 



' These resolutions were as follows : 



1. We recognize the fact that, in order to effectually chock the continually-increasing 

 devastalion of forests v/hich is being carried on, international agreements are needed, 

 especially in relation to the preservation and jiroper cultivation (for the end in view) 

 of those forests lying at the sources and along the courses of the great rivers, since it 

 is known that through their irrational destruction the results are a great decrease of 

 the volume of water, causing detiiment to trade and commerce ; the lilliug up the riv- 

 er's bed with sand, caving in of the banks, and inundations of agricultural lauds along 

 its course. 



2. Wo further recognize it to be the mutual duty of all civilized lands to preserve 

 and to cultivate all sucli forests as are of vital importance for the well-being — agricul- 

 tural and otherwise— of the land, such as those on sandy coasts, on the sides and 

 crowns as well as on the steexi declivities of mountains, on the sea-coasts and other ex- 

 I)osed places, and that international i)rinciples should be laid down, to which the own- 

 ers of such protecting or " guardian forests " be subject, thus to preserve the land from 

 damage. 



3. We recognize, further, that we have not at present a sufficient knowledge of the 

 evils (disturbances in nature) which are caused by the devastation of the forests, and 

 therelbre that the efforts of legislators should be directed to causing exact data to be 

 gat hered relating thereto. 



'^Journal Offidet, Febru;iry 24, 1874; Bulletin Adminisiratif du Ministdre de V Instruction 

 Publiquef etc., Iti74, No. 330, p. 211. 



