28 



Bird Notes and Newa 



and to express their anxiety " to retain 

 the patronage of an old and valued 

 customer." The customer repUed that 

 she had not given further orders to them 

 because she understood them to be among 

 the most active supporters of the 

 iniquitous feather-trade, and she preferred 

 to deal with firms not implicated in a 

 slaughter which she considered a disgrace 

 to humanity. This brought a rejoinder 

 assuring the customer that she was " quite 

 wrong ; " they were " compelled to stock 

 a certain amount of plumes and feathers," 

 being " as tradesmen compelled, some- 

 times most reluctantly, to supply the 

 pubHc with what it wants," So, no 

 doubt, Mr. Pecksniff if he were to advertise 



the Pecksniff Pernicious Pill on every 

 hoarding, would gently say that he had 

 no wish to sell the pill, but reluctantly 

 yielded to an obligation to supply the 

 pubHc with an article for which it was 

 mutely yearning. 



" I am glad to see that certain milliners 

 are substituting the tulle aigrette for the 

 Heron's plumage, which, alas, figures in 

 profusion on many of the expensive hats 

 of to-day. Indeed, so ruthless must have 

 been the slaughter of these poor parent- 

 birds in anticipation of the present season, 

 that unless the Plumage Bill is passed 

 without further delay, the bird will become 

 extinct." {Sphere, May 18th, 1912.) 



Notes. 



The Penguins of the Falkland Isles are to 

 be protected in the interests of scientific 

 ornithology. In the course of Dr. Charcot's 

 last expedition to these islands, coloured 

 celluloid bangles were attached to the feet 

 of various birds with a view to assisting in 

 the study of migration. But a number of 

 the birds were killed by whalers, who have 

 hitherto considered them, remarks the 

 Standard, "as a species of living Aunt 

 Sallies, to be a mark for the cock-shying 

 sticks of any crew of sailors." Dr. Charcot 

 accordingly appealed on behaK of the Pen- 

 quins as British subjects, and the Governor 

 of the Falklands has replied that the Customs 

 officer attached to the whaling service of the 

 South Shetlands will instruct the manager 

 of whaling companies to forbid their ser- 

 vants to kill Penguins or other birds, and 

 to collect information as to the movements 

 of the decorated Penguins. The granting 

 of fishing licences is to be conditional on a 

 promise to respect both seals and Penguins, 

 and if possible other birds. 



Decrease in the number of Swallows is 

 again noted this year in many parts of 

 England, and also in Ireland. Various 

 explanations have been attempted, but the 

 true cause seems still to seek. One curious 

 reason suggested is that owing to the larger 

 number of houses now in Algiers, the birds 

 are not obliged to come to Europe for con- 

 venient eaves and rafters to which to attach 

 their nests. Apart from the fact that 

 Swallows built before there were houses even 

 in Europe, it is fairly certain that migration 

 is an inherited instinct of return to the 

 land of birth, handed down from the time 

 when winter, creeping in upon tropical 

 Britain, gradually drove them afar for food. 

 A more probable supposition is that wireless 

 telegraphy may have a disturbing influence 

 on the migrants. In France the disappearance 

 of the Swallows is once more deplored by 

 M. Cunissot-Carnot in his charming column 

 " La Vie a la Campagne " in Le Temps 

 (Jime 1st, 1912). This year, he says, there 

 are not more nests in the whole of the village 



