146 
ANNUAL MEETING. 
the end of the year. It is not only that there is difficulty in 
meeting our small expenses, but we are crippled in our work of 
development by want of the sinews of war. It is really a question 
for you. Do you care for the work ? Sir John Lubbock has 
reminded you that our country is small ; and that railways, 
factories and other buildings are pressing more and more on 
the rural parts. But, though small, our country is rich in the 
variety and distribution of wild species, and in natural beauty. 
Do you desire to preserve this heritage, so far as is possible, 
not only for yourselves, but for posterity ? If so, do you think 
that this Society is, on the whole (whatever ineffectiveness and 
futility there may be in some particulars), carrying on a useful 
work to that end ? If the answer is in the affirmative, it is 
surely but a small thing to ask that the aid required should 
be freely given. 
Mrs. Edward Phillips : Sir John Lubbock, Ladies and Gen- 
tlemen, — I avail myself gratefully of the privilege of addressing 
you to-night, and I venture to do so in the presence of far 
better speakers because I think I may possibly represent the 
feelings of a portion of those present who are, like myself, 
working quietly in the ranks of the Selborne Society, in which 
I have been interested ever since its commencement by Mr. and 
Mrs. Musgrave. 
Sir John Lubbock has ably advocated the extension of 
education, in which we all heartily concur, but some of us 
anxiously hope that the educators will not forget what Hiram 
Powers, the American sculptor, declared to be the great need 
of his country, and which is the great need of all countries — 
the education of the heart. 
The exact length of a bird’s wing, the precise conformation 
of its beak, and the varieties of eacli species as shown in the 
stuffed birds of a museum, will not alone lead up to, much less 
supply the place of, the loving appreciation of living beauty 
which comes from watching natural objects, the ways of birds 
for instance, or indeed of any unmolested wild creatures, with a 
view to their preservation. 
I would not seem to speak as if scientific acquirements were 
incompatible with keenly humane feeling. On the contrary, it 
is the most learned ornithologists who have most cordially 
seconded the efforts made by simple bird-lovers to stay the 
slaughter of useful and beautiful birds for (so-called) decorative 
purposes. Professor Newton was one of the earliest supporters 
of the Society for the Protection of Birds, and to him we still 
look for counsel and encouragement. The late Lord Lilford was 
another staunch friend, and some persons present will perhaps 
remember his indignant denunciation of the “destruction of 
birds for the disfigurement of women’s heads." 
Unhappily, few women regard feathers as unbecoming from 
any point of view, and even the wearing of whole carcases 
appears to be again coming into vogue, since the newspapers 
