8 
also to attract the songs and choruses of those exquisite winged 
creatures which were, perhaps, the most beautiful thought of 
that Almighty and inscrutable Being whom we worshipped. 
Mr. Cunninghame Graham, in seconding the resolution, said 
he thought they owed a debt of gratitude to the Chairman for the 
careful, eloquent, earnest and scholarly address which he had 
given. He was very glad to hear that the Society was growing as 
it was; perhaps, however, he might be allowed to disagree with 
the view that sport should not be touched upon by the Society. 
He hoped that in the fulness of time, and when Parliament, which 
had already been referred to in a most deservedly uncomplimentary 
manner, addressed itself to legislation, the Society would be strong 
enough to attack the votaries of sport. The Chairman had said 
that he would not allow anybody to shoot birds until a man had 
proved himself a good shot. The other day, he (Mr. Cunninghame - 
Graham) said to a Spanish bull fighter in connection with bull 
fighting, “ What a pity it is that there is so much cruelty connected 
with sport.” The bull fighter replied, “ We inflict no suffering at 
all. It is your amateurs, who take up bull fighting for the pleasure 
of the thing, and who have not been thoroughly educated in our 
noble craft; they inflict the suffering on the animals.” He thought 
that in this instance the argument of the bull fighter and that of 
the humanitarian almost went upon all fours. 
He would urge upon every member of the Society to look 
thoroughly into the question of the preservation of birds from the 
point of view in which, as he believed, it should be looked at. In 
England we were sufferers from a lack of a sense of proportion. 
Policies would pass away; governments would be forgotten; wars 
which to-day were popular might become unpopular, and vice versd ; 
but this England, this heritage of ours, would not pass away; the 
heritage of the birds and the heritage of the flowers would remain. 
It was upon this generation that the responsibility was laid not 
to allow further destruction of the bird-life which had been so 
brutally and wantonly destroyed for many generations. He hoped 
that all the members of the Society would be fanatics in this 
matter. All the good that had been done in this world had been 
done by fanatics, and he hoped that, in season and out of season, 
they would press their views upon the public. If they did so, the 
Society would help Englishmen to understand what England was 
in the old days when birds sang in every field and on every tree, 
and when men listened to them and their hearts were glad. 
The motion was carried unanimously. 
Mr. E. D. Till, writer of the 1st Prize Essay, spoke of the 
way in which Arbor Day had been carried out at Eynsford in Kent. 
