Bird Notes and News 



67 



question in the interests of agriculture, 

 •as they are almost wholly insectivorous 

 species. They include the Swallow and 

 Martins, Nightingale, Blackcap, White- 

 throats, Chiffchaff, Willow and Wood 

 Warblers, Flycatchers, Wheatear and 

 Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Yellow and White 

 Wagtails, Swift, Nightjar, Wryneck, and 

 "Cuckoo, Corncrake and Turtledove. In 

 addition to birds such as these which are 



entirely absent from Britain in winter, 

 great numbers of Lapwings, Skylarks, 

 Thrushes, and Starlings arrive and depart. 

 In the autumn migration come the 

 Woodcock, Fieldfare, Redwing, Curlew, 

 and Wild Fowl. Mr. Ogilvie-Grant's 

 recent work on Game Birds gives some 

 interesting figures showing the destruction 

 of Woodcock, 1,800 of which have been 

 killed at one lighthouse in four nights. 



The Plume-Trade. 



SMUGGLrNG continues to be practised by 

 the plume-traders in order to evade the 

 laws of India and the Colonies, which 

 prohibit the export of plumage. A 

 Poona correspondent informs the Society 

 of the seizure by the Inspector of Customs, 

 Bombay, of fourteen cases of Peacock 

 feathers intended for export. The cases 

 were labelled " haberdashery." 



The German Colonial Secretary, Dr. 

 Solf , has addressed a public appeal to the 

 women of Germany to give up wearing 

 Bird-of-Paradise feathers in their mil- 

 linery. The Colonial Office, he says is 

 ■doing all in its power to save the birds 

 by raising the export duty on birds killed 

 in German colonies, and he hopes that 

 a further law will entirely prohibit the 

 killing of birds. 



The statement having been made that 

 Earl Roberts's daughter wore an " osprey" 

 plume as part of her going-away costume 

 on the occasion of her recent marriage, 

 members of the R.S.P.B. will be glad 

 to learn that the ornament worn by Lady 

 Edwina was Major Lewin's Horse Artil- 

 lery plume, a memento of his service in 

 that regiment. Neither Countess Roberts 

 nor her daughters wear ospreys or any 



feathers of birds killed for decorative 



purposes. 



A member of the R.S.P.B. recently 

 wrote to a west-end firm protesting against 

 the pictured advertisement of an " osprey" 

 on the cover of their catalogue, and trying 

 to dissuade them from selling this species 

 of feather. In reply the managing- 

 director writes : — 



" I duly respect your feelings in the 

 matter of the sale of Aigrettes, and I assure 

 you that as individuals we should be only 

 too pleased to see this particular traffic 

 stamped out. You must, I am sure, appre- 

 ciate that in these competitive times, when 

 expenses and taxes, etc., of all descriptions 

 are being raised, one cannot afford to risk 

 losing any business by allowing one's personal 

 feelings to overcome one's business neces- 

 sities. If the public at large could be 

 induced to give up the purchase of Aigrettes 

 we should be only too pleased, but whilst 

 our competitors offer these articles for sale, 

 we cannot afford to stand out and refuse to 

 sell them ourselves. 



" As a matter of fact I should like to point 

 out that the particular sketch to which you 

 have taken exception, does not illustrate a 

 hat in our stock. The sketch, as you \v\U 

 see by reading the descriptive matter, is for 

 the purpose of showing the coat. The hat 

 is purely and simply the artist's idea." 



This letter is worth consideration. In 

 it the director of a firm of Enghsh trades- 

 men frankly admits (1) that in view of 



