36 president's address. 



have remained outside the union is a matter of great regret. 

 The rulers of the country were in favour of the Bill, but found 

 themselves unable to enforce it among their people — one blushes 

 to write it — "owing to the incurable passion of the Italians for 

 ' robins on toast.' " Fortunately Australians have not developed 

 any such tastes, and the Skylarks, the Robins, the Blue Wrens 

 and the Flycatchers and our other small birds are in no danger 

 of being netted in hundreds for the domestic pot. 



The Act adopted in Europe is thorough-going. Article 2 

 enacts that it shall be forbidden, at any season and in any 

 manner whatsoever, to steal eggs and nests, to take or destroy 

 nestlings. The import of these nests, eggs and nestlings, their 

 transport, the colportage of the same, their putting up to sale, 

 sale and purchase shall be prohibited. 



Article 3. The construction aud employment of traps, cages, 

 nets, nooses, lime-twigs, or any other kind of instruments used 

 for the purpose of rendering easy the wholesale capture or 

 destruction of birds shall be forbidden. 



There are of course reasonable exceptions made to these sweep- 

 ing regulations, but the point is that the Governments do not 

 publish lists of a few birds to be protected, but publish the 

 exceptions, and the conditions under which they may be taken or 

 destroyed. 



In contrast to this European example, in Australia the several 

 States have independent Acts, more or less incomprehensive, and 

 have no regulations for inter-State action. The list of protected 

 birds in our New South Wales Act of 1901 is a strange jumble 

 in which the Seagulls, singled out alone from the sea birds, find 

 themselves sandwiched in between the Emu and the Brush 

 Turkey, "Seagulls of every description" (there are only two 

 species to be found all round the coasts of Australia), 

 in which the Butcher Bird lies down by the Coachwhip, 

 in which the 21 genera and 88 species of Honey Eaters are 

 represented only by " the Honey Sucker, Meliomis" in which 

 Gerygone and Rhipidura and most of the technical Fly-Catchers 

 find no place at all. It may not be necessary to go so far as the 



