26 
NATURE NOTES. 
throughout the whole of France, have disappeared from several 
departments. It is then highly important to bring forward 
some remedy for a condition of affairs, the dangers of which 
have been already pointed out in various documents, and espe- 
cially in the report of M. de la Sicotiere, in the notes by M. 
Froidefond and Millet, and in the works of M. Lescuyer. 
In order to put an end to these hecatombs of birds which 
cannot be justified by any economic reasons, and which only 
afford in return a contemptible amount of food, various means 
may be employed. The most efficacious will doubtless be that 
adopted by an enormous majority at the Congress. It would 
amount to the entire prevention, during the whole year, of the 
capture en masse of all birds of any species whatsoever. In speci- 
fying that by the capture en masse, the taking of enormous quanti- 
ties of birds by means of nets, draw nets, trammel nets, snares 
of various kinds and bird lime is meant, all the dodges so dear 
to the poachers, who annihilate hundreds and thousands of birds 
in a few hours, will be upset. 
M. Oustalet in his report then referred to the resolution with 
respect to the sole use of firearms as destructive engines during 
the shooting season, to proper laws, and to the yearly publica- 
tion of a list of birds to be legally taken during the said season, 
and further pointed out to the Minister of Agriculture that the 
rights given to the prefects in France, by the law of 1844, 
would be curtailed, and would no longer cover the method 
of capture, nor the formulation of the list of birds to be cap- 
tured, but would simply empower them to fix the limits of the 
close season in each department. 
As a means of preserving useful birds, it was proposed to 
place artificial nests in the trees, shrubs and hedges belonging to 
the state property. 
With respect to wild fowl M. Oustalet suggests a restric- 
tion in granting shooting licenses on the coast, with the view of 
giving the migratory birds and the balayeurs des grcves a better 
chance of existence. 
M. Oustalet attaches great importance to the advantages 
to be derived by thorough instruction on important ornitho- 
logical questions in the agricultural colleges, and also to the 
diffusion of accurate knowledge of the habits of useful and in- 
jurious animals, either by means of popular publications, or 
by lectures amongst the inhabitants of towns and villages. 
This brings us to believe that the establishment of an 
Alphonse ‘ Karr Society on the lines of our Selborne Society, 
and with the approval and support of the Ministers of Public 
Instruction and of Agriculture, the authorities of the Acclima- 
tisation Society, &c., would be both popular and useful in 
France, where sentiment (not sentimentality) and science can 
go well together hand in hand. 
In a future number we hope to be able to refer to the 
documents quoted by M. Oustalet and our own colonial papers 
on the subject of bird preservation. 
