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QO Great Forward Movement in Bird Protection. \^^ q^^ 



Mr. A. J. North, of the Australian Museum, contributed a short 

 paper on " Bird Protection and Bird Destruction in New South 

 Wales," in which he pointed out certain weak points in the original 

 Acts in force in the State, and outlined the efforts which had been 

 made to remedy them. It was impossible to afford full protection 

 to many species unless absolute protection was given, because of 

 irregularities in breeding habits. Vast destruction of birds was due, 

 directly or indirectly, to the introduction of undesirable aliens, 

 particularly rabbits and foxes, and to the efforts made to keep these 

 in check. He advocated the reprinting of the Acts in force, 

 together with the additions that had been subsequently made, in 

 the newspapers, so that the widest publicity might be given to 

 them. Gould Societies might very advantageously be inaugurated 

 throughout the State, to take up work on the lines so successfully 

 followed by the Audubon Societies of the United States, and to 

 bring about the observance of "Bird Day" in the schools. But 

 there could be no doubt that perhaps the most urgent need at 

 present was better administration of the legislation provided in the 

 existing Acts. 



Mr. R. Etheridge, jun.. Curator of the Australian Museum, spoke 

 in favour of the retention of most of the clauses of the Act of 1901, 

 provided the Act was properly put into operation. For example, 

 the present Act provided that mere possession of a scheduled bird 

 was sufficient to constitute liability ; this was a wise provision and 

 should be retained. The existing schedules, however, were defective 

 and confusing. The suggestion that the birds that might be shot 

 should be specified, and all others protected, was an excellent one. 

 The urgent need for reform in the administration of the Act was 

 evidenced by the enormous amount of trapping of native birds, 

 including scheduled birds such as the Lyre-Bird, for commercial 

 purposes, and by the openly conducted sale of scheduled birds, 

 such as Seagulls, in Sydney. 



Mr. Deane specially referred to the very serious complications 

 which the rabbit-destruction question created, so long as the laying 

 of open poisoned baits and the poisioning of waterholes were 

 resorted to on a large scale. 



Mr. J. H. Maiden, representing the Royal Society of New South 

 Wales, communicated a letter which had been received from the 

 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in London, upon the 

 subject of the treatment which is now being meted out to Birds-of- 

 Paradise in New Guinea since the rescission of the proclamation 

 made in 1904 for the protection of these birds, and asking for the 

 support of the society in obtaining a renewal of the proclamation. 

 The Royal Society of New South Wales had accordingly approached 

 the Commonwealth Government, through the kind olitices of the 

 Premier of New South Wales. Copies of the correspondence were 

 communicated to the meeting. The speaker then addressed himself 

 more particularly to the difficult question of the best means of 

 securing the protection of native plants. As the representative of 

 the Zoological Society of New South Wales also, Mr. Maiden com- 



