20 



There could be no question of any success worthy of the name, simply 

 because the measures introduced were not in accordance with nature, 

 but were for the most part fanciful inventions. 



This was quite enough to prove fatal to a matter of such great 

 importance. The want of success extinguished all interest. The 

 protection of birds was regarded as an idle amusement at the close of 

 the period in question. Then Baron von Berlepsch appeared, just in the 

 nick of time. He recommended really useful measures, which guaranteed 

 certain success from the first ; whereas the ornithologists already named 

 had for years tried experiments which were more or less failures. From 

 this time onwards we can prove that the protection of birds throve 

 and prospered. 



Dr. Hartert is, therefore, right when he says in his excellent work* : 

 " The questions dealing with the protection of birds have now been 

 directed into a regular channel, and take their course quietly, but with 

 increased strength, under the cegis of Baron Hans von Berlepsch." 

 We are not saying too much if we designate Baron von Berlepsch as 

 the mainspring of all efforts made in these days for the protection of 

 birds. The whole matter, in its present shape and extent, is based 

 on his ideas, and it can be built up only on this foundation. 



Readers will be interested to learn how he was able to discover 

 a solution of the problem of bird-protection. He owes his success to 

 the fact that he carries on his experiments from a purely scientific 

 point of view, without sentimentality or exaggeration. 



He carried out Liebe's words : " Learn to know the life of birds 

 thoroughly if you wish to be sure of success in protecting them," and 

 devoted himself from his earliest youth to studying the world of birds, 

 and to observing them carefully. Hence twenty years of quiet, 

 incessant work lay behind him when he first made known his ex- 

 periences. He still considers it the aim of his life to continue seeking 

 the best ways of successfully protecting birds. 



His long journeys abroad were very useful in assisting him to solve 

 the problem. He spent fifteen months in 1883-84 in Africa, Italy, 

 and the islands of the Mediterranean ; in 1886 he was nine months in 

 South America, in the virgin forests of Paraguay and Western Brazil. 

 He spent three months in 1888 in Italy, where he has since paid frequent 



* " Einige Worte der Wahrheit iiber den Vogelschutz." 



