THE IMMEDIATE PRELIMINARIES OF THE CONVENTION 
97 
or rather the delegates of the same, led to a complete under- 
standing to the effect that the resolution or international con- 
vention to be carried at Paris ^should not be of a different 
character to that of the liungaro-Aiistro-Italian Declaration 
of 1875 ; i. e. the latter should constitute the starting-point 
for the negotiations''. 
Then the Hungarian delegate started for Berlin in the 
company of the Austrian delegate, Dr. Max Wladimir Beck 
— then Chief of Department in the Austrian Ministry of 
Agriculture, when these lines were written, now Prime Minister 
of Austria: the two delegates met the German representatives 
at the Foreign Office, Berlin, on June 9, and entered into a 
discussion. The German delegates were: Dr. Thiel, Geheimer 
Oberregierungsrat, Dr. Lehmann, Geheimer Botschaftsrat, and 
Dr. Koenig and Dr. Selenka, Professors of Zoology in the 
Universities of Bonn and Erlangen respectively. 
The German delegates declared that they could only accept 
the „ Declaration" of 1875 or any new convention which could 
be reconciled with the German Imperial Act for the protection 
of birds passed in 1888. In the course of the proceedings it 
was agreed that the „ Declaration" of 1875, which no longer 
answered its purpose, should be remodelled. 
The following meeting was attended by the Italian delegate, 
who had just arrived in Berlin. This delegate, Enrico Giglioli- 
HiLLVER, Professor at the Higher Scientific Institute of Florence, 
announced that he agreed to the modification of the „ Declar- 
ation" of 1875: it must not be forgotten that, at the First 
International Congress held at Vienna in 1884, this same 
delegate, acting on the instructions of his Government, declared 
that he must abide by the „ Declaration" and could not accept 
any other proposal. It is true that even the present change 
of attitude did not in any way restrict the liberty of action 
of the Italian Government. 
Herman: Con v. for the Prot. of Birds. 
