396 THE 4OOLOGIST. 
as the concomitants of this, we should have all that usual crop of 
weeds which lies, ever in wait, to spring up and choke any wild 
bird’s life—hasty conclusions and ignorant prepossessions, undue 
assurance in regard to the evil complained of, credulous hatred, and 
an itch to find ropes to hang dogs with. As to the supposed evil, 
Ravens are abundant in Iceland, and prey, when they can, on the 
eges and young of good-sized birds that make their nests on the 
ground. But these latter are abundant in a still greater degree— 
indeed, they may be more numerous, on the whole, though less 
crowded, than Pheasants and Partridges with us. Would they be- 
come less so if they counted as game, and were the Ravens declared 
vermin and pests ?—Epmunp SEous. 
Black-tailed Godwits visiting Cork Harbour, Co. Waterford.— 
These birds have this season visited their old haunt in Cork Harbour, 
the Blackrock mudbanks, and one bird was shot about the middle of 
September. They appear for some years past to have visited this 
haunt pretty regularly. They have also visited County Waterford, 
where, on Sept. 21st, Mr. R. Ussher, of Cappagh House, on the 
Shandon Estuary, saw some, where last season he shot a pair. It is 
interesting to note these birds revisiting their old haunts.—ROBERT 
WarreEN (Ardnaree, Monkstown, Co. Cork). 


BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 
SCIENCE, DUNDEE, 1912. 
ADDRESS TO THE ZOOLOGICAL SECTION. 
By P. Cuatmers Mircuet., D.8c., F.R.S., President of the Section. 
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS AND THE PRESERVATION OF FAUNA. 
(Continued from p. 360.) 
THE conditions in Africa are very different from those in India. 
The land is portioned out amongst many Powers. The settled popu- 
lation is much less dense, and the hold of the white settler and the 
white ruler is much less complete. The possibility of effective control 
of native hunters and of European travellers and sportsmen is much 
smaller, and as there are fewer sources of revenue, the temptation to 
exploit the game for the immediate development of the struggling 
colonies is much greater. Still, the lesson of the extinction of the 
South African fauna is being taken to heart. I have had the oppor- 
tunity of going through the regulations made for the shooting of wild 
animals in Africa by this country, by our autonomic colonies, by 
