Bird Notes and News 



37 



who are interested in abstract zoology and 

 who admire the beauty of birds and beasts 

 in landscapes, but it is one intimately con- 

 nected with the welfare of man in Southern 

 Asia. The reckless destruction of insect- 

 eating birds (for example) which has been 

 going on unchecked for 50 years to feed the 

 wicked plumage trade is causing a great 

 increase in germ-spreading insects and ticks, 

 and consequently of the germ-diseases which 

 destroy human beings and the domestic 

 animals on which they depend for their food 

 supply." 



A correspondent who writes above 

 the initials " H.F.H." in the Times of 

 August 29th, observes that in India it 

 is not the cultivator who has, as a rule, 

 to be guarded against, but the " sports- 

 man " and the " shikaree " who come 

 to shoot for shooting's sake or to get 

 saleable feathers ; he urges that Burma's 

 old sanctuaries should be re-estabHshed. 

 On this Mr. Buckland comments : — 



" Of what avail to the Indian farmer wiU 

 be the establishment of a few reservations 

 for the saving of a miserable remnant of Avild 

 bird life when his fields are bared to the attack 

 of ever-increasing hordes of devastating 

 insects ? This disaster will come upon him 

 as surely as night foUows day if the present 

 wholesale and illegal traffic in the plumage of 

 Indian birds is not checked. 



" The situation is desperate, and nothing 

 but a law prohibiting the sale in this country 

 of illicitly exported plumage will avail any- 

 thing worth while. Let Great Britain give 

 the lead to the other European powers in 

 this great civic and economic movement, and 

 the wild bird life of India and elsewhere Avill 

 be saved." 



Sir Harry Johnston quotes from a 

 correspondent in Burma the remark that 

 " migratory birds, such as Duck and 

 Teal, have suffered a woeful diminution. 

 Lakes which used to be crowded with 

 them in 1885 are now solitary. The 

 Demoiselle Cranes have almost dis- 



appeared." The writer attributes the 

 destruction to " the lust for kilHng." 

 Possibly this is not the only factor. It 

 is at least illuminating to find 44,000 

 pairs of Duck's wings catalogued by one 

 firm for the August feather-sales in 

 London ; 8,000 (besides 3,000 odd 

 bundles of quills) offered in April last, 

 over 10,000 in February, and over 40,000 

 (Duck and Teal) last October. The 

 Plume-trade would of course wish it to 

 be beHeved that these come from birds 

 " killed for food " ! Many thousands of 

 white Crane feathers also appear in the 

 lists, and among other recent entries are 

 12,800 Terns, 6,800 Kingfishers, and 

 nearly 1,000 Emu Skins. The Emu 

 exists only in Australia ; Australian 

 law forbids the export of skin or 

 plumage. 



The wife of a London Vicar (one of the 

 clergy who did not forget the birds on 

 " Animal Sunday," and has an " Egret " 

 poster on the notice board of his church), 

 writes to the R.S.P.B. : — 



" I was in a fashionable west-end shop, in 

 the millinery department, when two very 

 smartly dressed ladies came to the counter 

 where I was sitting and asked to be shown 

 ospreys. While the assistant had gone to 

 fetch them I summoned courage and asked 

 them if they knew the horrible cruelty that 

 took place to obtain these plumes, describing 

 it as well as I could. The tears came into 

 their eyes ; they said they had never realized 

 the cruelty of it before. When the girl 

 brought the box of ospreys they told her 

 what I had said and would not have them. 

 Then the younger lady said she would have 

 ' artificial ' ones. I was obhged to tell her 

 even in wearing imitations she would encour- 

 age the fashion. To my delight they chose 

 other things. I think if more ladies would 

 make a point of keeping their eyes open in 

 shops and in a tactful and pleasant way 

 pointed out the facts to thoughtless women, 

 good would result." 



