78z 



THE TROPICAL AORICULTURIS'^ 



[May I, 1886. 



THE TRADE IN FEATHERS. 



BV P. L. SIMMONDS. 



The fashion for wearing feathers has hail a much 

 longer reign than most other fashions with ladies, and 

 hence the trade in feathers and birds' skins has now 

 attained enormous proportions. When wu find the 

 annual value of the imports into this country alone 

 of feathers e.Kceeding two millions sterling, the aj)- 

 plication, preparation, and subsequent retail sales must 

 necessarily be very profitable to those concerned. 

 The largest quantities come from India, Asia, and 

 Africa, but subsidiary supplies also reach us from 

 America. In the present remarks I shall confine my- 

 self to the land birds, leaving the aquatic ones possibly 

 for a future notice. 



The average annual importation into this country 

 and France of small foreign birds of bright plumage 

 is no less than a million and a half. They conu^ mainly 

 to England for distribution. We import about a 

 quarter of a million humming birds yearly. At a 

 public sale in the autumn of last year, besides the 

 loose feathers, 147,386 bird skins were disposed of 

 during the two days' sale, among which were no less 

 than 44,381 green or Amazon parrot {Clnysotis uma- 

 zoiiicu) and other species. 



'I'he following figures show the importance of the 

 trade in feathers in this country— specifying the annual 

 imports for nine years;— 



Ornamental. 

 For Birds. Feathers. 



£ £ 



1875 120,177 713,199 



187t> 109,045 778,477 



1877 109,041 873,192 



1878 91,679 1,002,902 



1879 80,238 1,146,211 



l,s80 107,554 1,367,128 



1881 127,374 1,322,255 



1582 144,694 1,957,840 



1583 155,240 2,011,926 



AVe re-export about half of the ornamental feathers 

 as follows: — 



f 



1879 ... ... ■•• 4!U,140 



1880 ... ... ■•. 0li0,931 



1881 723,187 



1882 ... ... .- 1,003,278 



1883 1,009,123 



France and the United States take half of these 



exports. 



In a paper which I read before the Society in Feb- 

 ruary, l.'S76, on "The Trade in Ostrich Feathers" 

 (Joiirn-a!, vol. xxiv. p. 225), 1 brought down the satis- 

 tics of our imports to 1874, and it is interesting to 

 trace the subsequent rapid augmentation which has 

 resulted from ostrich farming, and the domestication 

 of the ostrich in South Africa since that period. The 

 direct imports of these feathers from South Africa 

 are .specified in the returns. In contrast with these, 

 I may place the imports from Northern Africa, which 

 I collect from the countries of import, viz., Malta, 

 Egypt. Tripoli, and Morocco. 



South Africa. North Africa. 



1H75 293.860 94,1(>4 



1«76 300,572 67,481 



1^77 400,926 61,180 



lti78 590,372 33,102 



lf<79 717,056 4.5,949 



1880 959,079 47,651 



1881 073,774 28,183 



1W2 1,421,337 49,268 



1883 1,425,681 86,943 



Aden is iin inlirju't for ostrich feathers, from 7,000 

 lb. to 8,0(10 lb. being exported annually; half of these 

 are received from Uerbera. 



Mr. K. H. Elliott, in a paper read not long ago 

 before the East Indian A.ssociation, called attention 

 to the large exports front tile port of filadras. which 

 are chiefiy sent to Hung Kong and Singapore, Mie! 

 argued that the bright plumaged birds woukl soon be 

 exterminated. 



The following were the shipments thence in the 



last three years : — 



Feathers. 



lb. Value. 



1881 122,175 £1,662 



1882 105,.315 1.998 



1883 167,7.50 2,666 



Bird Skins. 



<,Juantity. Value. 



1881 82,400 £1,908 



1R82 98,300 2,098 



1883 11,275 166 



£ £ 



But if we take the whole of our imports from 

 IniUa, they form a much larger aggregate ; — 

 £ £ 



1871 21,840 1878 25,775 



1872 29,119 1879 19,482 



1873 38,836 1880 22,164 



1874 .3S,4M 1881 24,082 



1875 37.197 1882 33,658 



1870 23,587 1883 66,455 



_ 1877 18,563 



The following fig:ures, .showing the total exports of 

 fea'hers from British India, prove the importance of 

 the traile. They are for the years ending March in 

 each year : — 



Value. 

 Year. lb. £ 



1879 56,000 21,933 



1880 41,279 18,618 



1881 65,433 26,944 



1882 67,164 28,966 



1883 89,839 .30,425 



1884 104,021 47,039 



1.V84 40,487 41,352 



(Six months to Sept. .30.) 



From India we receive chiefly the blue jay, jungle 

 cocks, orioles, trayopans, kingfishers (.4?c«?o litni/alin- 

 ^'■^ and other species), peacocks' feathers, and pelicans' 

 feathers. Of the last named there is a terrific slaughter 

 carried on during the moulting season in Cambodia. 

 They are taken in enclosures, and one to two thou- 

 sand killed nightly for about a week. The greyish 

 feathers from each wing, and the black feathers at 

 the extremities are plucked and tied up in bundles, 

 and they are in the East chiefly made into fans. 

 These feathers are in request in Europe, as they take 

 dyes readily. 



The feathers of the little egretheron, and of the A rden 

 alba, are much esteemed for ornament. To show the 

 large ompluyment of these feathers, 1 may state that 

 at a feather sale in .lanuary, 1876, the feathers sold, 

 on a moderate calculation of twenty to each bird, 

 involved the slaughter of 9,700 herons, aU from India. 

 Then we have the feathers of the marabou and ad- 

 jutant storks from India. The former has a long 

 range of latitude in Western Africa, extending from 

 Senegal to Angola. The feathers of the greater and 

 lesser adjutant are scarcely equal to those of the 

 marabou. The gigantic stork or adjutant is extremely 

 common in Northern India, more especially in Bengal, 

 being well known in the larger towns as an efficient 

 scavenger bird. 



Peacock feathers, both from the body and the tail, 

 seem in grt.at recjuest for feather trimniings. At a 

 public sale in ,\ugust, no less that 75 cases were sold, 

 containing nut only complete skins of the bird, but 

 brilliant blue neck skins, wings, and body feathers, 

 tail feathers, classified into e^es, swords, which are 

 the brilliant metallic green feathers which bonier the 

 tail at each side, and fish tails, the onliuary feather 

 with the eye cut out, I'eacock feathers are much 

 employed in India as fans, brooms, picture cleaners, 

 &c., wiiich sell locally at Od. to Is. each 



Of the eighteen species of birds of paradise known, 

 fourteen inhabit New Guinea and the adjacent is- 

 lands, three Australia, and one only the Moluccas. 

 The four true birds of paradise which form a well 

 characterised group, belong solely to New Guinea anil 

 the adjacent islands. The other sjiecies are mote rare, 

 The best known are the great bird (I'antdina ajiiMla, 

 Liu.) known since the middle of the IGtb centary. 



