BIRD LIFE

Hokitika Guardian, 27 June 1935, Page 3

BIRD LIFE

... plea fok pbeservatios. Commenting oil the petition which the Scottish iiocihty for the Protection of Wild Birds has brought forward, asking for a year’s truce ill the caging and capturing ot wild birds, the Listener remarks that this is one more example of the growing realisation that conscious steps have to be taken in the British Isles if many species of bird* already rare are not to become extinct. The whole question of bird protection! is one in which Britain can claim to have taken the load. To-day most countries have societies for the protection of birds, and have passed legislation establishing close seasons, or in other ways affording protection. It is nearly 6U years since the body now »o wel * known as the Royal Society tor the Protection of Birds was founded primarily to combat the evils of the plumage traffic.

From that obvious beginning many activities have grown, both national and international- Much oT the work of bird preservation only requires money. Thus the equipment ot lighthouses with perches has bc<?n found to°save a gr e at deal of bird life, preventing birds from injuring and killing themselves by dashing against the lighthouse in a vain search for somewhere to perch. t This form of protection requires neither legislation nor education. At the other end, the attempts to secure, through the League of Nations, international action to minimise the discharge of oil from, oil-burning vessels in a form which makes it a peculiarly destructive agent for birds, is, like all international matters, a lengthy business of slowly maturing agreement In between these -two extremes lies the great field in which public opinion and piiblic education are the chief tactors.