g56 James Buckland. 



too true that we are anxious to know more of the secret of that 

 marvehous fusion of the bird with its surroundings — that 

 illusive and obscuring colour-scheme, the alphabet of which is 

 as yet unknown to us — but gazing at the distortion of a bird 

 in a glass case will not reneal the secret. 



There is plent}^ of room for research, observation, and expe- 

 riment, which would be of real practical value to the world, 

 without this awful sacrifice of useful life for no useful end. We 

 want, in fact, to know more of the live bird, and to hear fewer 

 funeral orations over its remains. 



At the same time, no bird-protective measure should be 

 without a clause providing for the granting of permits to collect 

 bird-skins for scientific purposes, though that clause should make 

 it difficult to secure a permit, though a deserving applicant never 

 should be denied the privilege of securing specimens leg"ally. 



Such precautionary m.easures are rendered imperative by the 

 greed of the private collector. It is beyond all question that 

 species which are becoming rare suffer terribly at the hands of 

 this class of depredator, and in some instances his actions have 

 reached the dimensions of an intolerable infamy. A rare species 

 is nothing to the private collector, other than it instantly provokes 

 in him the lust of acquisition. Each year agents are sent forth 

 who travel long distances, and at great expense, for the express 

 purpose of securing specimens — often, too, in defiance of 

 the law. And if, in so doing, the private collector, succeed in 

 exterminating a species, he is all the more pleased with the 

 treasures which he has filched from the world. 



All of you must have noticed an unusual lack of swallows 

 and other small migratory birds in recent years. Doubtless the 

 cause of this alarming decrease in these tireless friends of the 

 agriculturalist is known to all of you. I mention the subject 

 only to point out that they are birds of passage, which belong 

 to the world, and not to the Latin races across whose countries 

 they happen to pass in their migration, and, furthermore, to warn 

 you that if a check is not put upon the wholesale butcliery of 

 these birds for food, their further destruction will be fraught with 

 consequences to northern Europe, and to Germany especially, 

 which are too dreadful to contemplate. 



Another serious question in this connection is the export 

 from Europe of live birds to America, and the import of live 

 birds from Africa. Birds are destroyed in this way in incredible 

 numbers, and the matter calls for immediate redress. 



But I must not tax your patience further. I have only to ask 

 you, in conclusion, — in view of the facts and figures which I 

 have been able to place before you — if it is not time for all 

 thinking people to consider with an earnest spirit what has been 

 gained to humanity by this tremendous slaughter of all these 



