Golden jubilee of the international council for bird preservation

Abstract

The idea of an international organisation tor the protection of bird, originated from ,Dr. T. Gilber Pearson, President of the National Association of Auduibon Societies, U.S.A. In 1922 he made an extensive tour of Europe, met many ornithologists and spoke at meetings of national societies for the protection of birds in various countries. During the course of his visit he found that little was known of bird protection in America, and indeed bird protectors in Europe had little knowledge of what was going on in other countries. Dr. Pearson summed up the situation as follows: "How many people in the United States and Canada know what the Germans or the Dutch or the Japanese are doing to save their birds; or what methods they are employing in the undertakings? Surely there is much we can learn from each other. Why not effect all international organisation which, among other thing, will further stimulate interest in bird protection by the interchange of publication and by occasional conventions where representatives of different countries can meet in council? Also there are a number of problems that are distinctly international such as oil pollution of the high seas and the export and import of birds or their feathers.''