12 



Bird Notes and News 



sit and listen to Mr, Denniss, Lt. -Commander 

 Williams, and Col. Archer Shee wading through 

 a moraBS of words in order to kill time, and 

 insisting on a count upon every amendment 

 though the majorities against them were patent 

 to every one present, is not an exhilarating 

 occupation. It can but be asked how long 

 Parliamentary procedure is to allow an 

 infinitesimal fraction of Members, whose 

 services have not been distinguished in any 

 other respect, to hold up legislation which 

 Committee, House, and country plainly and 

 unmistakably demand. The fact that two 

 unopposed verdicts of the House of Lords, and 

 three overwhelming majorities of the House 

 of Commons, have approved the Bill, while 

 the one object of the opponents is to shirk 

 and postpone any and every appeal to the 

 straight vote, should In all conscience be 

 sufficient to bring the whole scandal to an end. 



There was again no quorum on July 6tb 

 and 7th. The Chairman consequently moved 

 the Bill from top to bottom of the list awaiting 

 consideration. Twenty-four members of the 

 Committee have not attended one meeting, 

 thus (as Sir Charles Hobhouse comments in 

 the Titnes, July 5th) playing into the hands 

 of the trade. Their constituents should have 

 something to say to this before the Autumn 

 Session. 



Circumstances, however, were unpropitious. 

 Two late sittings of the House, the clashing of 

 other important Committees, and Ascot, de- 

 terred Members who perhaps saw little hope of 

 getting through a hundred amendments at the 

 initial rate of progress. 



THE PLUMAGE BILL AND OSTRICH 

 FEATHERS. 



" The Ostrich feather trade will never get 

 firmly and permanently established until we 

 entirely abolish the traffic in the plumage 

 of Wild Birds. The rich and influential firms 

 in France and London who deal in the plumage 

 of our murdered feathered allies are mainly 

 responsible for setting the fashion in feathers. 

 When it suits their pockets they so order it 

 that Ostrich plumes are the fashion. Then, 

 when they have accumulated vast stocks of 

 the skins and feathers of wild birds, the fashion 

 changes and there is a slump in Ostrich feathers. 

 I speak from knowledge. I ascertained these 

 facts when in London and Paris, and I challenge 

 denial. 



" We have everything to gain and nothing to 

 lose by safeguarding the lives of wild birds." 



The writer of these words, extracted from 

 the Eastern Province Herald (Port Elizabeth, 

 Cape Colony) of June 4th, 1920, is the well- 

 known naturalist and ornithologist, Mr. F. W. 

 Fitzsimons, F.Z.S., F.R.M.S., many years 

 Director of the Port Elizabeth Museum, who 

 has no trade axe to grind and no aim other 

 than the prosperity of the country in which he 

 lives. He adds — and the statement will be 

 substantiated by anyone who has recent 

 experience in South Africa : " The plume 

 trade is doing its utmost to get the Ostrich 

 farmers to oppose the Plumage Bill. They 

 are being told that there will be little demand 

 for Ostrich feathers, as the public will conclude 

 there is cruelty involved in their production 

 also." 



As a matter of fact the conspicuous exemp- 

 tion of Ostrich feathers from the Bill emphasises 

 the point that women need not hesitate to wear 

 them, as thousands have done, in their sickened 

 revolt from the slaughter of wild birds. The 

 trade cry shows the wisdom and necessity of 

 limiting the schedule to feathers for which a 

 guarantee can be given, and thus furthering 

 the Ostrich-feather industry of our Colonies. 



THE BIRD OF PARADISE. 



The arguments put forward by the sup- 

 porters of the Bill with regard to the threatened 

 extermination of Birds of Paradise are proved 

 up to the hilt by examination of the species 

 now coming into the market. The trade have 

 contended that evidence given in 1908 and 

 1911 on this point is shown to be absurd, 

 because thousands of birds have continued to 

 come into the market, and therefore they must 

 be as plentiful as ever. But the fact is, that 

 the birds now being worn are not of the same 

 species as those brought in a few years ago. 

 Northern New Guinea, the habitat of the 

 earlier supplies, has become profitless to the 

 trade, oMdng to the devastations its ravages 

 have made. The central portion of the 

 country, including Dutch New Guinea, is now 

 being scoured, the parade of protection made 

 by the Netherlands Government being little 

 more than a blind. Doubtless thousands of 

 birds have been received by the trade during the 

 past twelve years. Unless the Bill passes they 

 will receive thousands more. Then will come 

 the inevitable end. The whole island and 

 adjacent islands will have been swept bare : 

 but the trade purse will be the fuller. 



