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Bird Notes and News 



hill,'" wrote Mr. Meade- Waldo when he visited 

 Hermaness in 1920, " was most interesting for 

 the ornithologist. Falcons, Ravens, and count- 

 less myriads of Sea-fowl were to be seen." 

 Edwardson was further able to write in August 

 last that though there had been quite a number 

 of visitors to Baltasound " the egg-moucher 

 seems to be a thing of the past." At a time 

 when egg-collecting is immensely on the 

 increase, this is in itself fine testimony to the 

 work and influence of the Watcher. 



Interesting, however, as are the place and 

 its birds to occasional visitors, it is another 

 matter to spend continuous days and nights 

 in. the absolute loneliness of hills and sky 

 and sea. No one but a lover and friend of birds 

 could live a life like this for a third of each 

 year ; Edwardson's whole heart is in the work 

 to which he has shown such extraordinary 



devotion. The birds know him, as he knows 

 them ; and the story has been told before 

 of the Richardson Skuas which come to the 

 door of his hut to be fed when they see it open 

 once again in spring, and who bring their 

 youngsters "to be introduced." 



In the coming spring it will be the Society's 

 business to provide a new and less ramshackle 

 hut than the poor shelter now existing, and 

 it must needs be strong to survive the tre- 

 mendous storms that beat upon North Shetland. 



But for shortage of funds it would have 

 been provided long ago ; and there may be 

 readers of Bird Notes and News who would 

 like to contribute towards a " Hut Fund " for 

 the greater comfort of a Bird- Watcher whose 

 long and faithful service so well deserves 

 consideration. 



The Plumage Trade 



" SHED PLUMAGE " AGAIN 



Writing on the Egret question to Dr. 

 Hornaday, Director of the New York Zoo- 

 logical Park, Mr. Dudley Le Souef, Director of 

 the Zoological Gardens of Melboiirne (Victoria), 



says : — 



" I see it is mentioned that the seekers after feathers 

 are supposed to have picked up some of the Egret 

 feathers on the ground in the scrub, etc. Our own 

 men here had just the same yarn, but when the subject 

 was gone into we found that every feather they got 

 came from the birds they shot. To pick up a loose 

 feather lying on the ground is a very rare thing in 

 any case. In the instance referred to it is probably 

 the same thing ; they shot the birds for the sake of 

 the feathers and brought in that as an excuse. They 

 may get an odd one now and again, but that would be 

 neither heie nor there. Our birds are fairly well 

 protected, and the export of plumes is prohibited, but 

 I have no doubt a certain amount are exported, 

 possibly in the luggage of private people. These birds 

 nest in Queensland and frequently in out-of-the-way 

 districts." 



The " moulted " plume will probably be 

 played for all it is worth by the Trade at the 

 meetings of the Board of Trade Advisory 

 Committee. Independent members of that 

 Committee will perhaps consider two things, 

 besides the statements immediately before 

 them : (1) Are these statements brought forward 

 by persons who have been habitually truthful 

 in their assertions made during the past twenty- 

 five years respecting shed plumes, " artificial " 

 feathers, feathers in nests, the Florida Egrets, 

 conditions in South America, etc. ? (2) have 

 these persons personal and private interest in 



pushing such statements ? So far, no single 

 vestige of independent evidence has been forth- 

 coming to show that birds are not wantonly 

 slaughtered in Venezuela, as they were in the 

 United States and in Europe. On the other 

 hand every unbiassed traveller has deplored 

 the ravages of the trade ; and those who best 

 know the conditions of that vast and half- 

 civilised country are least credulous as to the 

 existence or powers of " laws," " guards," 

 " protection," and so forth, as cited or inter- 

 preted by the Venezuelan official and the 

 Venezuelan hunter. 



EGRETS IN EGYPT 



In the Annual Report on the Zoological 

 Service of Egypt, just issued by the Ministry 

 of Public Works, Major Stanley Flower, O.B.E., 

 writes : — 



" In 1912, owing to the destruction caused by the 

 plume-hunters, Egrets would have been practically 

 exterminated in Lower Egypt but for the measures 

 then commenced, under the patronage of the late 

 F.M. Earl Kitchener, for their protection. 



" In the summer of 1920, besides the colony of the 

 Gaza Zoological Garden, it Avas estimated that the 

 Egret breeding colonies in the Delta that have been 

 looked after by the Zoological Service contained 

 64,000 birds. Including the Upper Egyptian colonies 

 it appears safe to say that there are at least 100,000 

 of these useful birds now in the country. 



" From reports received from landowners it appears 

 that these Cattle Egrets will m this one year, 1920, 

 have saved to Egypt crops to the value of from two 

 to three million pounds, which would otherwise have 

 been destroyed by insect pests." 



