SECTION I. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON BIRD - PROTECTION. 



I. — THE PRESENT POSITION OF AFFAIRS REGARDING THE PROTECTION 



OF BIRDS. 



Most people have been struck by the increased attention that has 

 recently been paid to the protection of birds, and they must have 

 hailed this movement with delight. In newspapers, journals, books, 

 and pamphlets we come across articles and essays dealing with the 

 various attempts to promote this object ; while societies and com- 

 munities, as well as individuals, exert themselves on all sides in the 

 good cause. 



The energetic fashion in which Government authorities have taken 

 up the question of the protection of birds on a rational basis deserves 

 special mention. We need only refer here to the Paris Convention 

 of June, 1895, which was signed by most of the European States, to 

 the " Guide for carrying out the Protection of our Native Birds," 

 issued by the Prussian Board of Agriculture, Crown Lands, and 

 Forests, the Orders issued for enforcing protection, the State authoriza- 

 tion and support of the Seebach experimental station, and to the 

 far-reaching and practical measures which have been introduced 

 into the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Grand Duchies of Hesse and Baden, 

 the State of Hamburg, and other German States. 



The Act for the Protection of Birds has at last become law in the 

 German Empire, and deserves to be specially mentioned. I should 

 like to thank, in the name of the cause, those who worked so cheerfully 



