Bird Notes & News 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 :: FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS :: 



Vol. IX.l 



SUMMER, 1920. 



[No. 2. 



The Importation of Plumage Bill. 



The Plumage Bill, having passed its Second 

 Reading, is now in Committee, and its history 

 so far has been a fair parallel to that of the 

 Bill of 1914. The trade know, as they knew 

 then, that the Standing Committee, the House 

 and the country are against them ; that put 

 before any unbiassed assemblage the Bill 

 would be agreed to without further discussion ; 

 for the subject has been discussed at all points 

 dm-ing the past twelve years, and the tergiver- 

 sations and subterfuges employed in opposition 

 have probably done as^ much to sicken the 

 public as the notorious character of the traffic 

 itself. The one chance of the Bill's opponents 

 lies in delay, just as it did in 1914, and for this 

 they are playing now, as they played then, 

 with every card in their pack. When the Com- 

 mittee met for the sixth time there were ten 

 foolscap pages of amendments down, ninety- 

 eight of which had practically the same three 

 names to them (Messrs. Bartley Denniss, 

 C. Williams, and Archer Shee). The same thing 

 reappeared three or four times with a slightly 

 varied wording. On each as it came along the 

 three or four supporters spoke as lengthily as 

 possible, repeating the same statements, going 

 round and round the same points, meandering 

 and stumbling on and on and on, no matter 

 what the words or sense so long as time was 

 occupied. The strange contradictions and in- 

 consistencies resulting would, if reported in 

 full, afiord a feast of absurdity to the critic 

 who had patience to wade through the mass. 



An attempt was made to adjourn the whole 

 question for the Session, on the ground that it 

 was wasting time, as the trade would never 

 allow the Bill to pass unless amended to please 

 them, and " would strenuously resist it at every 

 stage." Other attempts have been the exemp- 

 tion of birds considered " pests " or used as 

 food, or " certified " as plentiful or as killed 

 without cruelty in the country of origin ; also, 



continually and by divers approaches, 

 " farmed " birds and " moulted " feathers. 

 The assertion has been made again and again 

 that the supporters of the Bill affirm its necessity 

 on the two grounds of " cruelty " and " ex- 

 termination " only. Strong and well-proved as 

 are these two charges, it cannot be too plainly 

 stated that they are far from being the only 

 grounds, or even with some supporters the main 

 grounds, for legislation. The demand rests on 

 a more definite basis than these charges, to 

 which the trade bring whimpering protestations 

 of their love for birds, their ability to protect 

 by killing or by not killing them, the law- 

 abiding humanity of South America, and the 

 astounding fecundity of caged Egrets in Sind. 

 It is this: a steady refusal to look upon the 

 bird creation, with its glorious beauty, its 

 scientific interest, its economic value, its joyous 

 life — as so much free material for an utterly 

 senseless and incredibly wasteful business, and 

 an illimitable field of gain for the most out- 

 rageous of profiteers. 



The Committee has been assured, among 

 many other things, that if the import of foreign 

 feathers is stopped, the trade will proceed to 

 kill British birds, since feathers they must have, 

 and Acts and Orders will be easily evaded. A 

 singular assertion this, to balance against the 

 assurance that a brand-new law is effective in 

 Venezuela, where disregard of it is of advantage 

 to both natives and Government. Getting 

 hold apparently of the wrong end of this stick. 

 Colonel Ajcher Shee, on an amendment to 

 exempt birds of a kind found in this country, 

 went through a long list of British birds to 

 show how obnoxious are Crows (under which 

 head the trade hope to slip in Birds of Paradise), 

 Jays (by which name they import Rollers), 

 Pheasants (which apparently feed on mangel 

 wmzel), Ospreys (which he appeared to con- 

 found with the " ospreys " of the trade). 



