56 
HISTORICAL PART 
endorsement as well as the reservations contained therein, 
and at the same time engage to provide the signatories with 
all the rights and advantages secured by the Declaration. 
§ 3. As, however, there are doubts concerning the mean- 
ing of the phrase „ small birds" used at the end of the first 
paragraph of § 2 of the Declaration, by unanimous agree- 
ment the word „small ' shall be replaced by „ nestling." 
In certification of which the undersigned, conscious of 
the trust deputed to them, have signed and sealed with 
their official seals, as plenipotentaries, the above protocol. 
Signed etc. etc. 
There can be no doubt that the above agreement as 
expressed in the two foregoing documents, even in the 
published form, was a remarkable result, considering that in 
Italy the catching of birds — let us add of birds migrating 
according to seasons — is a custom deep-rooted among the 
people, one that, according to the season, implies food for 
the masses. 
We shall soon see why it was unsuccessful. It is, however, 
beyond doubt that, in the cause of bird protection, consider- 
ing the special circumstances just mentioned, the declaration 
was epoch-making, for it created a firm frame suitable to 
receive regulations inspired by a better insight, the result of 
experience, and aiming at a rational protection of birds. 
Developments. 
The Austro-Hungarian Foreign Ministry saw, in the De- 
1876. claration of 1875 and the protocol organically connected with 
the same, an excellent basis for the extension of the agitation 
to cover all the States of Europe. The action was begun 
in 1876, when an appeal was made first to Germany and 
