3 
stupendous, but it is certainly considerable, and we go forward with 
the well-founded hope, that in proportion as our efforts are better 
understood by the cultivated and intelligent portion of the public, so 
will they be more generally approved, and we shall consequently enjoy 
a fuller measure of co-operation.” 
Mr. Montagu Sharpe (Chairman of Committee), in the absence 
Mr. W. H. Hudson, who until recently had acted as Chairman of 
Committee, formally moved the adoption of the Report. 
Sir Edward Grey, Bart., M.P., in seconding the resolution, said 
that the Wild Birds Protection Act, 1894, owed its origin to Mr. 
Alfred Pease; but as regards the final form it took, and the labour of 
seeing the Bill through both Houses of Parliament, a task which 
none but those who know the trouble and anxiety of it can appreciate, 
that labour was undertaken by Sir H. Maxwell, and to him be all the 
honour that is due, and which he fully deserves for securing the 
enactment of the Bill. Where the County Councils had scheduled 
birds which had not been known to breed in those particular counties, 
the Councils were acting on the safe side, and no harm could be done 
by taking care to be on the safe side. The most valuable result of the 
Wild Birds Protection Acts is not so much how many successful 
prosecutions may be obtained under them, as the establishment of the 
principle, that it is a good thing in the interest of the public that 
some protection should be given to birds. It would be a great 
step in advance if we succeeded in creating a public opinion in favour 
of birds being allowed to live in peace and security in our interests 
as well as their own, they being the natural possession of all. 
Rich and poor alike can share in the joys they confer on man¬ 
kind. This Society has done a great deal towards leading public 
opinion in the right path, and in keeping it up to the mark. In 
some parts of the world some species of birds are rapidly being 
exterminated because people will have certain plumes to wear in their 
hats. Why is it that people will go on coveting and demanding what 
cannot be supplied without great and unreasonable loss of life ? The 
answer is, simply because they are thoughtless, and experience has 
shown us that more harm is done by want of thought than through 
any other motive. This Society may do something to make people 
think. Sir Edward Grey recommended the study of such books 
as those mentioned in the Report—Mr. Warde Fowler’s and 
others—because they offer an inducement to all to cultivate tastes 
which are inspiring and elevating. He recommended ladies to use 
field glasses as w T ell as men, as he felt sure that the pleasure thus 
derived from a closer acquaintance with the appearance and habits of 
the denizens of the woods and fields would make women, in whose 
hands lies so much power, enthusiastically desirous of bringing about 
better times in the future for those denizens of the woods and fields 
which we love and admire so much. 
In supporting the Resolution the Rev. Canon Rawnsley said 
that he also agreed that we must look to education—especially of the 
masses—as the means of securing the objects of the Society, but he 
rejoiced at the action taken by so many County Councils, and con¬ 
sidered that they had reason to be thankful to Mr. Howard Saunders 
