36 



Bird Notes and News 



music, that I was enchanted, and thought 

 that never in all the years I had spent in 

 the haunts of wild birds had I heard any- 

 thing so fairyhke and beautiful. 



" On this hill, or down, at the highest 

 point, you have the Severn Sea before you, 

 and, beyond, the blue mountains of Gla- 

 morganshire, and, on the shore, the town 

 of Cardiff made beautiful by distance, 



vaguely seen in the blue haze and shim- 

 mering sunlight like a dream city. On your 

 right hand, on your own side of the narrow 

 sea, you have a good view of the big yoimg 

 growing town of Weston-super-Mare. On 

 your left hand you look over long miles, 

 long leagues, of low flat country, extending 

 to the Parret river, and beyond it to the 

 blue Quantock range." 



The Plume-Trade. 



In a letter to the Times of August 21st, 

 1912, the Duchess of Portland once more 

 appeals to women to refrain from buy- 

 ing or wearing osprey plumes, citing the 

 example of Her Majesty Queen Mary. 



On the eve of the day on which the 

 Plumage Bill (No. 2) was down for 

 second reading in the House of Commons 

 (July 29th, 1912), a letter in its support 

 was addressed to the Prime Minister by 

 the R.S.P.B. In expressing the hope 

 that the principle of the measure would 

 be adopted by the Government, the 

 Society urged that such an enactment 

 would be warmly welcomed hj the 

 Colonies, as furthering efforts in those 

 lands to save ornamental-plumaged birds 

 from practical extermination ; would be 

 a signal encouragement to the United 

 States of America, where similar efforts 

 are being made ; would have a powerful 

 influence on other European countries, 

 which await Great Britain's lead in this 

 matter ; would benefit the trade of Great 

 Britain and the Colonies by stimulating 

 the sale of ostrich feathers and of manu- 

 factured ribbons, and other ornaments ; 

 would prevent the importation into and 

 sale in Great Britain of feathers illegally 

 exported ; and would check the wholly 

 deplorable and disastrous destruction of 

 valuable and beautiful bird-hfe which is 

 now proceeding at an alarming rate, and 



which has been condemned by every 

 naturaHst of modern times. The letter 

 also referred to the fact that a Bill 

 of still more comprehensive character 

 passed the House of Lords in 1908, and 

 was pronounced practical and workable 

 by representatives of H.M. Boards of 

 Trade and of Customs, 



At the University Extension Students' 

 Summer Meeting at Cambridge last month 

 (August, 1912), Sir Harry Johnston lec- 

 tured on Tropical Africa, and in reference 

 to the terrible sleeping sickness and its 

 conveyance by the tse-tse fly and the 

 mosquito, said : — 



" One way of aboHshing the pests would be 

 to put a stop to the plumage-hunting which 

 is needlessly destroying so much of the bird- 

 life of tropical Africa at the present time. 

 He considered it should be made a criminal 

 offence by the strictest legislation to wear 

 plumes from Birds of Paradise, or any 

 feathers of insect-eating birds, which devoted 

 their lives to the killing of obnoxious insects. 

 The beautiful white Egrets lived almost 

 entirely on flies and insects, and followed 

 great herds of wild and domestic animals, 

 picking from their backs the ticks and flies." 



These remarks were received with loud 

 applause. Adverting to the same sub- 

 ject in a letter to the Times on the Indian 

 fauna (August 27th, 1912), Sir Harry 

 Johnston writes : — 



" The question of the preservation of the 

 Indian fauna is not merely raised by those 



