BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



± i 



Walsall, our readers will be aware, is in the 

 heart of the " black country." 



The Town Clerk of Ipswich, in enclosing a copy 

 of the by-laws, says : 



" Legal proceedings have been taken from time 

 to time under these by-laws, and a conviction has 

 ensued in every case. Christchurch Park, which 

 is a very old park, and was purchased by the Cor- 

 poration in 1S96, although quite in the town, is 

 the home of various kinds of birds. I may men- 

 tion, as being a little unusual, Owls twc kinds), 

 Wrynecks, Cuckoos, Nightingales, Woodpeckers 

 (two kinds), Woodpigeons, Shrikes, and many 

 others." 



BIRDS AND MILLINERY. 



Queen Alexandra's letter to the Royal Society 

 for the Protection of Birds has not only made the 

 "osprey" plume unfashionable in this country, but 

 has also had an excellent effect in America, where 

 the preservation of the Egret is more of a home 

 question than it can be in a land that knows this 

 persecuted bird only by pictures and descriptions. 

 Mr. Dutcher, President of the Audubon Societies 

 of the United States, forwarded a copy of the 

 Queen's letter to the President of the States, 

 expressing at the same time a hope that Mrs. 

 Roosevelt would place the stamp of her dis- 

 approval likewise on the use of the plume. In 

 reply, Mr. Roosevelt has assured Mr. Dutcher of 

 the hearty sympathy which he and his wife feel 

 " with the work of the Audubon Societies gene- 

 rally, and particularly in their efforts to stop the 

 sale and use of the so-called aigrettes — the plumes 

 of White Herons." The Audubon Societies have 

 issued the letters of Queen and President as a 

 special leaflet. 



The New York State law is now held to prohibit 

 the possession or sale for the purpose of dress or 

 ornament of the skins or feathers of all wild birds, 

 whenever and wheresoever taken ; and the Fish 

 and Game Commissioner offers to give an opinion 

 upon any aigrette described as "manufactured." 



Many of the local Hon. Secretaries of the 

 R.S.P.B. have sent copies of leaflet No. 57, '"The 

 Queen and < )sprey Plumes," to millinery establish- 

 ments, in the provinces, asking their co- 

 operation in discouraging the sale of these plumes. 

 It is wortln- of mention that one linn Messrs. 

 Robb Brothers, of Liverpool and Birkenhead) 

 ordered a quantity of the leaflets for distribution, 

 so as to help the work. 



In the commercial organ Tropical Life. Mr. 

 Hamel Smith, on behalf of the plume trade, con- 

 tinues to covet the plumes of Indian Egrets and 

 Herons — not, be it understood, as a matter of gain 

 to the British trader, but out of pure philanthropy, 

 for the good of the poor natives. The ingenuous 

 plea brought forward in the June and July issues 

 of the paper is, that since " osprey " plumes have 

 touched £9 per oz. at the sale rooms, and the 

 trade " would be pleased to receive a thousand 

 ounces or more," what would this not mean to the 

 starving natives if only they might be permitted to 

 use up the Herons of India ? It is, we are assured, 

 "absolutely impossible" to stamp out the wearing 

 of birds ; so why not let India have her share in 

 the cash profits of the deal ? Why not, it is further 

 argued, protect the birds by establishing a Close 

 Time but allow the shipment of skins and feathers ? 

 The use of the "starving native" to touch the 

 humanitarian sentiment of those ignorant of Indian 

 feeling and religion is, for the plume trade, a happy 

 thought ; but it would be interesting to know 

 exactly what proportion of the price fetched in 

 London goes to the native hunter ! also in what 

 way the institution of a Close Time would benefit 

 him, seeing that " osprey " plumes are developed 

 on the birds during the breeding-season only. It 

 is a curious thing to demand freedom for the 

 exportation of an article while suggesting a law to 

 make the obtaining of it illegal. No doubt the 

 law might be profitably evaded ; but surely it can- 

 not be that Tropical Life has any such possibility 

 in view. 



The " osprey," although the most notoriously 

 cruel and discreditable of all feather ornaments, is 

 but the foremost in the long category of plumes by 

 the wearing of which woman forfeits her repute 

 for refinement of taste and tenderness of heart. 

 To the plume trade she would seem to be, indeed, 

 but the fool of fashion, to whom " ospreys," para- 

 dise plumes, grebe skins, wings, and stuffed birds, 

 are flung in succession. Should she have a faint 

 suspicion that some one of these things is not 

 quite nice, she may have another ; and if vague 

 objections are still heard, there is always that 

 blessed word " artificial," which is expected to per- 

 suade her that any ami every feather in the market 

 is •• made up" of contributions from the farmyard 

 and the poulterer's shop. Already wings and whole 

 sea-birds are appearing in some milliners windows 

 for the trimming of autumn and winter hats ; and 

 it is announced that fancy feather toques, and also 



