168 
THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS IN HUNGARY 
almost in terror, what was the cause of the rapid decrease 
of swallows? 
Great Britain's isolation is comprehensible, for the insular 
conditions of that country are quite different. The British 
Birds Protection Act, to continental conceptions, is not what 
it should be, but Game Laws, which hinge on the strict 
observance of the close time. 
The Act at present in force is really an amendment of 
the older laws: it was passed on sept. 7, 1880, its „ short 
title" being „The Wild Birds Protection Act, 1880". 
The enactments of the said law run as follows : „§ 3, 
Any person who between the first day of March and the first 
day of August in any year after the passing of this Act shall 
knowingly and wilfully shoot or attempt to shoot, or shall 
use any boat for the purpose of shooting or causing to^be 
shot, any wild bird, or shall use any lime, trap, snare, net, 
or other instrument for the purpose of taking any wild bird, 
or shall expose or offer for sale, or shall have in his control 
or possession after the fifteenth day of March, any wild bird 
recently killed or taken, shall, on conviction of any such 
offence before any two justices of the peace in England and 
Wales or Ireland, or before the Sheriff in Scotland, in the 
case of any wild bird which is included in the schedule 
hereunto annexed, forfeit and pay for every such bird in 
respect of which an offence has been committed a sum not 
exceeding one pound, and, in the case of any other wild 
bird, shall for a first offence be reprimanded and discharged 
on payment of costs, and for every subsequent offence for- 
feit and pay for every such wild bird in respect of which 
an offence in committed a sum of money not exceeding 
five shillings, in addition to the costs, unless such person 
shall prove that the said wild bird was either killed or taken 
or bought or received during the period in which such wild 
