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Whoever, like the author, has been able to observe the birds at 

 Seebach at all seasons of the year must acknowledge that the experi- 

 mental station there serves as a pattern and a model for all similar 

 places. The success attained in every part of the experimental station 

 is, to say the least, extraordinary. 



The number of breeding birds cannot naturally be the same every 

 year, nor can it constantly increase. It must rise or fall in accordance 

 with the quantity of food, and particularly of insects, whose number 

 again depends on the weather of each year. The increase in the birds, 



THE LAKE. 



which is noticeable when first properly-regulated bird- protection is 

 introduced into a district that suffers from grubs, very naturally 

 declines when the balance between the plant and insect life has been 

 restored, and only when the conditions are again particularly favourable 

 for insect life will the birds become more numerous. 



The extraordinary number of birds that can inhabit a properly- 

 prepared district is shown by a list compiled in Seebach in the year 

 1906. The years 1893 and 1900 had already been noted as remark- 

 ably good years for birds, but in 1906 the maximum number of breeding 



