13 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has again offered a prize of ^'50 
and a second prize of ^ 25 , for implements which will be substitutes 
for this demon trap, and I trust that when the time arrives for 
judging the works of competitors, we shall find something of 
service to the cause. (Cheers). I should also like to show you 
that the same Society., of which I am Secretary, is doing another 
good work for the protection of birds. (Cheers). It has often been 
said to me that the present Act for the protection of birds is a dead 
letter, but that is absolutely wrong. There are many defects in the 
Act. We always find a difficulty when a birdcatcher will not tell us 
his name ; and we are almost powerless against a contention that 
the birds exposed for sale are foreign ones. But I am proud to say, 
in spite of these obstacles, that we succeeded in convicting offenders 
for infringements of the Act, in more than a hundred instances last 
year, so that you will see our officers are on the alert. (Cheers). 
Besides this service to the cause of birds, 122,000 placards have 
already gone forth for the ensuing season, warning people against 
breaking the law. (Cheers). It is difficult to make the public 
understand what is the law, as there have been so many variations 
of the close time, in different parts of the country, and for that 
reason, we have special bills printed for special areas. I hold in 
my hand a sample of the placard for Middlesex, where the close 
time runs from February 1 st to August 31 st, and I heartily wish 
that were the uniform close time, throughout the British Isles. 
(Cheers). But besides these measures, we are working in other 
ways to check bird-ciuelty, as well as all other cruelty. The most 
successful method, I contend, is to begin with a child of six years of 
age ; and we are trying to do this in the schools, not only by 
literature and lectures, but by encouraging the writing of essays on 
the duty of humanity to all animals. (Cheers). * * * Sometimes I 
have to address children, and I always make it a point of impressing 
them against what may be called' spurious humanity. I will give 
you an illustration of what I mean. It seems to be a characteristic 
of Engish boys to throw a stone if they see a wild bird, and thus 
we never see wild birds as tame in this country as one does in 
Germany—for instance, where you may sit out of doors at the 
railway station tea tables, as I have done in Dresden, while the 
birds hop round your legs so tame, that they show no fear of the 
visitors walking and sitting about. The story I was about to tell 
is perhaps somewhat childish for this meeting, but it makes a good 
object lesson, Now there was once a little boy who, seeing a bird 
alight on a tree, put his hand down and picked up a stone, apparently 
with the intention of throwing it. At that moment the bird struck 
up a joyful song, and the boy hesitated while he listened to the 
melody ; his hand indeed seemed paralysed. A man passing by at 
the time noticed the incident, and said :—“ Why don’t you throw ? 
Make haste, boy, or you'll be too late.” But the boy's hand still 
remained outstretched. Again the man shouted “ Why don’t you 
throw?” when the boy said “ I can’t.” “Why not?” said the 
man. The boy answered, “Because he sings so.” (Cheers). In 
