Preface 



years for the protection of our wild birds are not worth 

 the paper they are printed on, for the simple reason 

 that with the exception of a few keepers, provided 

 by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 there is nobody to see that they are carried out. 

 Children know nothing whatever about the Wild Birds 

 Protection Acts, and collectors laugh at them. 



I therefore humbly submit the following suggestions 

 for the better protection of our feathered friends : 



(1) As there is a great deal of misconception in 

 regard to the good or harm wrought by many of our 

 birds, instruct the Natural History Museum and the 

 Department of Agriculture to issue an authoritative 

 report upon the food and activities of every British 

 bird throughout all the seasons of the year, and 

 publish this report broadcast. 



(2) Let the Education Department issue instruc- 

 tions to every schoolmaster and schoolmistress in the 

 land to give a weekly lesson on birds in the spring, 

 and warn their pupils of the harm they do by 

 destroying birds' nests, eggs, or young. 



(3) Close every natural history museum in the 

 country during April, May, and June, and send all 

 the attendants out to protect wild birds. They 

 would thus learn something of the lives and habits of 

 the specimens they have under their care in glass 

 cases during the remainder of the year, and inci- 

 dentally enjoy a good long holiday. Half a dozen or 

 so of the youngest and most athletic men might be 



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