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Protection of Birds in Germany. [July, 



ago, to the establishment at Hamburg of a State institution for 

 protecting and preserving birds in the adjacent rural districts. 

 The institution was organised and is directed by the professors 

 of botany attached to the* Hamburg Botanical Gardens, whilst 

 its practical management, that is to say the carrying out of 

 the various measures destined for protecting the birds, is placed 

 in the hands of an inspector or so-called " birdsman " 

 ( vogelwart) . 



The " birdsman " has been specially trained for his work 

 by a German landowner (Herr von Berlepsch), who has 

 long made the care of birds his special study. Herr von 

 Berlepsch has laid down rules for the proper construction 

 of nest boxes and for hanging them up in suitable places, as 

 also for planting bird thickets — the two chief methods recom- 

 mended by him for the protection as well as the propagation 

 of birds. 



Several extensive parks and gardens near Hamburg (Fried- 

 richberg, Farmsen, &c.) have now been supplied with boxes, 

 as well as most country places within Hamburg territory ; 

 the birds for which they are intended being tomtits, starlings, 

 and woodpeckers. 



During the year 1907 the Hamburg rural authorities have 

 distributed 1,200 nest boxes free of charge, whilst 300 have 

 been sold, and altogether about 4,000 nest boxes are said 

 to be in use in the neighbourhood of Hamburg. 



One method for the protection of birds is the planting 

 of thickets for shelter, and the local authorities are about to 

 establish in one of the country districts a large thicket 

 measuring about 2,000 square yards. This thicket is to consist 

 chiefly of blackthorn bushes at a distance of about 2 J- feet 

 from each other. After every twelfth bush, beech, ash, and 

 fir trees are planted ; there will be smaller groups of wild 

 currants and gooseberries, and around the whole there is to 

 be a protective fence of wild rose bushes. It is stated that 

 in the course of a very short time an animated bird life develops 

 within these thickets. 



The Prussian Government have issued several pamphlets 

 describing these nest boxes and thickets with a view to en- 

 couraging the preservation of useful birds. 



