The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1870-03-18

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: al Council, asking for the establishment q
an International union for the protection
! of useful birds, the cooperation of tn
nome and Of neighboring governments be
ing essential to Il successful movement i,
Chelr favor. Thus far the council has con
hheo It's action to addressing a general in
curry to the several cantonal governments
asking their views upon the subject of uni
form international regulations.
Inc replies OF the cantonal authorities
nave been carefully preserved, and, with
the laws on the subject in operation in the
several cantons, have recently been pub
llshed. They are curious and interesting
only few favor an international uniform.
ity OF law. The majority regard their own
local enactments as sufficient. All but
three OF the cantons-Ticino, Schaffhausen
and Appenzell-have their own local code
Tor the protection of birds. In one canton
Zurich there is a general hunting-law
which protects all useful BIRDS; but as
the useful" and the "injurious" are not
specified, and there is no universal agree
ment upon these points, the law would be
imperative but for the general disposition
OF the people to protect all birds. In
Berne, Crows, Ravens, Magpies and Spar
rows are outlawed. The killing or entrap
ping OF other birds, OF the destruction of
their eggs or young, is punished by fines.
In fourteen cantons the fine for killing any
bird on the protected list is fifty frances
In five others it is also punished by impris-
onment Some cantons punish any one
who destroys bird even on his own
grounds; Others permit proprietor to do
TINS on his own territory, but forbid it else
Where. In some, the protection to birds
extends throughout the year. In others,
their destruction is permitted during a
brief period. In several of these cantonal
codes the general crudeness and inconsis-
tency OF their legislation is shown in the
non-protection of several of the most harm
less and useful of the singing birds, such
as the Bulltinches, the Linnets, the Thrush
es, and others. In one canton, Aaroau,
the school regulations punish with fog
gng and other penalties any pupil found
guilty of destroying birds nests, eggs, or
young. In the cantons Of St. Gall and
Naud the cantonal laws not only forbid
the destruction Of b til birds and eggs,
but render the parent responsible for the
dcclinqucncies of their children in these re
spects. In the four cantons ofZug, Frey
burg, Aargau, and Geneva provisions arc
made for educating the children in the
public schools in regard to the value of
birds and the Importance protecting and
preserving them.
This movement in the Swiss Confedera-
tive Council, though it has as yet resulted
III nn national uniformity of legislation,
has brought to light evidences ola nearly
universal admission of the value of birds,
| and Of 4 disposition to protect them. The
! conflict of opinion manifested by the pro-
tecting in one canton and the outlawing in
another of the same species is only addi-
! tional evidence of the incompleteness of
the general knowledge on this subject and
the crudeness of present legislation. Ger
tainly we Of Massachusetts have no occa-
sion to take any very great pride in our
own record. 30 lar from having any we'll
founded claims to superiority in this mat
ter, our own "halflegislation" is pitiably
defective, hating, and inconsistent. The
most recent enactment of Massachusetts,
places under ban and permits, if it does
not invite, the destruction of several of the
most valuable birds to agriculture found
within our State limits. 1t proclaims I'M
munity to all who join in the merciess
slaughter and destruction of the few Gulls
and Terms which still breed upon our
coast. Those graceful and beautiful birds,
so entirely innocent of harm, so valueless
as food, yet so valuable to the fisherman
for the reliable and important indications
they give of the presence of certain kinds
of fish, as also to the sailor whom they
warn in thick weather of the dangerous
reef or the treacherous shoal, and to the
tiller of the farms near the sea whose grubs
and grasshoppers they devour, have been
nearly exterminated, and their final extinc-
ton is expressly permitted, if not invited,
by our latest enactment. The Parliament
of Great Britain, in striking contrast, has
recently made IL penal offence to rob the
nests or to destroy any of the Gulls on her
coasts from May to September. This re-
cent enactment of our own State betrays SO
complete an ignorance Of, the whole subject
is so inexcusably inconsistent and contra
dictory, that nothing at all comparable to
it for crude and bungling legislation can
be found in any of the enactments of the
several local governments of the Helvetio
Confederation, and, we trust, nowhere
else.
The movements in Switzerland have beer
ably seconded by the journals of that coun
try. They have been even more ably as
sisted by the publication, both in Switzer-
land and in Germany, of works bearing di
rectly upon this subject. Within the pres
ent year several essays of remarkable abili
ty and research, demonstrating the econo
mic use of all birds, have appeared, agree
ing in regard to the alarming increase o.
destructive insects in various parts o
Europe. We will cite one or two of the
more noteworthy instances. DR.. Giebel, ii
!, his "Book for the Protection of Birds" re
Gently published in Berlin, states that il
the single canton Of Borne there were col
lected and delivered to the authorities, il
two seasons, 83,729 viertels of the image
and 67,917 viertels of the larve ofthe May
chatter, for which $4,000 francs were paid
; The number of insects thus destroyed il
estimated to have been more than two
thousand million. AS it has been estima
ted that one of these insects while in thu
, larva state destroys upwards oftwo pounds
of vegetable roots, their capacity for de
struction when appearing in such enor
nous quantities is perfectly appalling.
is also noteworthy fact, that the author
tiles of Berne, who annually pay quartz
of million of francs for the destruction o
these insects, still keep under ban severa
varieties of birds whose services in thei
destruction would be second to but ont