Birds as Peace Makers
Some pleasant and valuable co-operation among workers in many nations goes smoothly on, whatever the political tension. Among such good companions are a group of naturalists— some men, some women—who foregather under the title of the Committee of International Bird Protection. I doubt whether any official in any Foreign Office would correctly guess the name of the country which at the moment is taking the biggest forward stride. It is Mexico. One of the customs of that country, wherever marshes or lakes are found, is to hold " armadas " in the spring. The armada consists largely in the wholesale slaughter of duck by the agency of weapons even more destructive than the punt-gun, which is itself a sort of cannon. Incredible numbers are killed in this way. If the vast quantity of maimed birds is reckoned, the sum total may amount to half a million. The new Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Poultry, and other kindred subjects has begun, in the face of hot local opposition, to put an end to such blind slaughter by prohibiting both the engines of the warfare and the holding of such festivals, as well as by education and persuasion. Duck and geese have been decreasing over a great part of the world, and they can only be defended by international aid, since their migrations extend over vast distances. No one can say he has a right to his own duck. They belong to other people as well.
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