The Audubon Societies 



171 



Audubon kindled a like spirit in the breasts 

 of dealers, who have made up their minds to 

 defy the sentimentalists. The trade at large 

 should pay no attention to Audubon cir- 

 culars or newspaper comments, but move 

 along in the even tenor of its way, awaiting 

 the action of the civil authorities, who alone 

 have the right to enforce the laws of the 

 state, and who will do it when they see a 

 necessity for it. Sooner or later this matter 

 will have to be taken to the courts, when it 

 will be found that what Uncle Sam passes 

 through the custom-house goes." 



It is easy to laugh at these tirades, but we 

 are not certain enough of having the last 

 word to laugh — at least not now. 



It behooves each state society to obtain the 

 best possible legal advice and guidance in 

 framing or amending its own laws at the 

 same time that it woos every effort to educate 

 public opinion and furnish a better view- 

 point to the rising generation. 



In November the delegates of these societies 

 will meet at Washington for the Annual 

 Audubon Convention. Let them bring re- 

 ports and queries digested, pertinent and 

 well threshed, the kernel of the wheat only, 

 so that we may not spend the limited time in 

 sweeping up chaff. That the convention is 

 held in conjunction with the annual meet- 

 ing of the A. O. U. should be an inspira- 

 tion to the delegates, and the fact that it is 

 really the only chance in a twelve-month 

 for the societies to meet face to face, should 

 be enough to make each act in all serious- 

 ness, for many will journey to the joint 

 meeting to whom attendance at the spring 

 meeting of the Advisory Committee will be 

 impossible. 



A good plan would be to have a question 

 box, placed the first day of the A. O. U., 

 to be opened during the conference and the 

 queries answered and discussed there and 

 then. M. O. W. 



Bird Protection Abroad 



In connection with the destruction of for- 

 eign birds, the appended information, quoted 

 from ' Science ' in :egard to an international 

 law for the protection of birds, is of 

 interest: 



"The Paris correspondent of the London 

 ' Standard ' states that the Ministers of For- 



eign' Affairs and Agriculture, just before 

 the summer recess, presented to the Chamber 

 a bill approving the international conven- 

 tion for the protection of birds useful to 

 agriculture. The international convention 

 has been signed by eleven European states. 

 Encouraged by the constantly renewed reso- 

 lutions of the Councils General and the 

 agricultural societies, which deplored the 

 systematic destruction of certain birds useful 

 to agriculture, the French Government, in 

 1892, took the initiative in the matter of 

 inviting the European powers to send their 

 representatives to an international commis- 

 sion intrusted with the task of elaborating a 

 convention. That committee met in Paris 

 in June, 1895. After long negotiations, the 

 convention thus framed has now obtained 

 the adhesion of France, Germany, Austria, 

 Belgium, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Lux- 

 embourg, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, 

 and the principality of Monaco. All the 

 other states are empowered by the terms of 

 the agreement to adhere, if they think fit, 

 to this convention for the protection of 

 birds. The various contracting govern- 

 ments undertake to prohibit the employ- 

 ment of snares, cages, nets, glue, and all 

 other means for the capture and destruction 

 of birds in large numbers at a time. In 

 addition to this general measure of protec- 

 tion, no one is to be allowed to capture or 

 kill, between March 1 and September 15, 

 any of the birds useful to agriculture, of 

 which a complete list is contained in the 

 international agreement. This list of useful 

 birds comprises Sparrows, Owls, common 

 Brown Owls, Tawny Owls, Sea Eagles, 

 Woodpeckers, Rollers, Wasp-eaters, Pe- 

 wits, Martins, Fern Owls, Nightingales, 

 Redstarts, Robin Redbreasts, White Bus- 

 tards, Larks of all kinds, Wrens, Tomtits, 

 Swallows, Flycatchers, etc." 



Reports of Societies 



REPORT OF THE FLORIDA AUDUBON 

 SOCIETY 



Our second annual meeting occurred in 

 March last, and since that time there has 

 been an increased interest in the saving of 

 our birds. Throughout the state, and in 



