Some reasons why International Bird Protection is necessary. 861 



to the agricullurc and forestry of a .State. Let us as scientists 

 insist that the conservation of l)irds rather than the waste of birds 

 is the best plan for every country in the world. 



When the world awakened to the fact that peace was more 

 conducive to happiness than war and a Peace Conference was 

 called at The Hague in 1907, forty-three signatory countries 

 participated in the Conference. 



While it is possible that the preservation of wild birds, which 

 are so necessary for the agricultural interests of the world, is 

 not quite as important a subject to consider as the peace of the 

 world, yet it certainly can take the second place. I conceive it 

 to be the duty of this Ornithological Congress to recommend 

 to the forty-three countries which participated in the second 

 International Peace Conference and as many others as it is possible 

 to get to co-operate, that they enter into an agreement, one of 

 vital importance and from which will accrue lasting benefits. 



The agreement suggested is that no country in the future 

 shall permit any of its wild birds to be shipped out of its terri- 

 tory, either alive or dead, for food, or millinery ornaments, or 

 any other purpose whatever. 



Further, that in the future, no country shall permit the 

 importation into its territory of any wild birds, either alive or 

 dead, to be used for food or millinery ornaments or any other 

 purpose whatsoever. In this way laws between the countries 

 party to this agreement become reciprocal and each country will 

 be able to retain its own Avild birds for the benefit of its agri- 

 culture and forestry and its own citizens; each signatory power 

 will help each of the other countries to enforce the non-export 

 regulations by having a non-import regulation relating to the 

 wild birds of any other country These laws or regulations should 

 cover every bird of a country; there should be absolutely no 

 exceptions made whatever, except that under proper Governmental 

 restrictions live birds might be exchanged for propagation and 

 dead birds as specimens for the scientific studv of ornithologv 

 in natural history museums. These two drains upon the bird life 

 of a country would be so small that it Avould not be appreciable 

 and at the same time it would advance the cause of bird protection 

 by giving each country a knowledge of the avifauna of all other 

 countries, and Avould also enable any country to engage in the 

 experiment of propagating extralimital species. 



Such an agreement as the above may appear drastic, but it 

 certainly is the only possible way to change the present distressing 

 conditions regarding the wild birds of the world. 



Members of the Congress, a vital question is now before us 

 — we cannot avoid the issue by closing our eyes to it. It is for 

 us who love birds, who understand birds, who have a scientific 

 knowledge of the question and Avho represent countries widely 



