ò2 Meetings of Section IV. 



means of these, we can protect more especially those species 

 which nest in holes, and these are just the birds that are 

 most useful. It is important to regard this protection, not 

 only as a work of love but as a question of national economy. 

 My nest-boxes differ greatly from other nest-boxes — they 

 are simply copies of the natural holes of the Woodpecker. 

 Further information on this point will be found in my book 

 "Der gesammte Vogelschutz" which has so far been trans- 

 lated into eight foreign languages, in fact into all the more 

 important European languages, with the exception of 

 English, an omission I mean to speedily remedy. If these 

 nest-boxes are suitably placed and properly filled with a little 

 earth mixed with sawdust, the best results are attained. 

 For instance I have on my estate 2000 of these boxes : 

 they are all occupied, and mostly by the more useful birds. 

 Although the German Government has fixed up many 

 thousands throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc., 

 there are now many hundreds of thousands more put up, and 

 everywhere with equal success. With plantations one pro- 

 tects all those other birds which do not build in holes. The 

 bushes should be cut in a certain way which may be seen in 

 my book. With these plantations one is always successful, 

 for instance I found a nest at every step in my plantation 

 last year. A less important matter, in England especially, 

 where the winters are not so severe, is the winter feeding and 

 the ridding birds of their enemies. I hope that these few 

 remarks of mine may have conduced to a more practical 

 method of bird-protection in England. 



Prof. LÖNNBERG, of Stockholm,, spoke as follows :— 



I should like to say a few words on this subject, in which 

 I am most interested, and I think we ought to strive for the 

 protection of most birds. But there is one word which we 

 should be careful not to use too freely in connection with 

 protection, and that is the word "useful." In the present 

 state of our knowledge we do not know which species are 

 useful. It is commonly accepted that all insectivorous birds 

 are useful and all graminivorous the reverse. This is cer- 

 tainly not the case. It may even happen that some insecti- 

 vorous birds may be found to be rather more harmful than 



